New Power
by Maverick14th
Summary: Ichigo has lost his shinigami powers but merged with his hollow? How has he changed? And why is there an old man who wants to teach him magic at his house? What is going to happen to Ichigo now? OOC Ichigo.
1. Chapter 1

So I had the idea for an angsty kind of crossover so this is what I came up with. Set after the Winter War. Obviously. Gonna be during the third HP movie.

Warning; Majoy OOCness of Ichigo. Read it you'll understand why. I thought it turned out pretty well for the first chapter.

Hope you like it.

I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter. Just the plot idea.

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><p>The Winter War was finally over.<p>

Aizen was defeated and sealed, never to be released.

Soul Society was finally safe from the arrancars under Aizen's control.

The Vizards, finally redeemed, either returned to Soul Society for the first time in decades or stayed in the human world to continue living as they had.

And where did this leave Ichigo? The one who actually defeated Aizen by learning the final release of his Zanpakuto? It left him standing in front of his family's clinic, watching as his shinigami friends faded from sight right in front of him, his soul reaper powers disappearing. That was the price he paid for saving the world of the living and Soul Society, his powers.

He could no longer see spirits or feel any form of reiatsu. He was normal now. For the first time in over a year. He was just like everyone else, and he hated it.

All he had wanted was to protect people. Protect his loved ones. And what was the result of wanting and succeeding in saving his friends and two worlds? He had his powers taken away from him. The very thing he had worked so hard for. Gone.

He had even lost his hollow. Though not as much as everyone thought. The shinigami didn't know what happened when his reiatsu disappeared. Ichigo wasn't feeling inclined to tell them, not that he could tell them if he wanted to; he couldn't see them after all.

But he had done something that day, the day he completely lost his powers. He had dove into his inner world for what he was sure to be the last time. He had looked around and seen the familiar skyscrapers but something was wrong. The buildings were damaged, rubble falling from the top of the buildings and into the dark water below. Ichigo turned when he felt the familiar presence and came face to face with his hollow.

The hollow wasn't smiling. He looked resigned. He knew what was going on and didn't like it one bit.

Ichigo walked up to the remaining part of his powers and held him in a crushing embrace. He didn't care if the hollow was all he had left, he was still his power. Without him Ichigo would go back to being weak. Strong for a human but still so weak compared to what he had once been.

He knew his hollow was surprised. Ichigo had always been very straight forward about his hatred of his hollow. He had never even offered the inner demon a slightly friendly expression, never trusting him in the slightest. The hollow looked into Ichigo's face when he released his demon. He must have seen something he liked for his face split into one of his patented maniacal grins. "don' worry King. I ain' goin anywhere." With that the hollow sunk into the glass of the skyscraper they were standing on.

Ichigo was confused at first, his hollow had never done such a thing. Then he noticed it, a darkness spreading out from where the hollow had disappeared. It spread to cover the huge building of Ichigo's mindscape. Where it spread the buildings changed, they repaired themselves and the windows turned black. The windows were strange, sometimes seeming to reflect light but then also absorbing light, as if they were sustaining themselves off the light. The sky darkened, grey clouds drifting through the air, partially covering a blood red moon. Ichigo looked around his new mindscape and felt strangely comforted by the dark environment.

When Ichigo left his mindscape he felt reassurance from his hollow, as if telling him he was not going to be completely weak for long.

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><p>Ichigo began to notice what the change of his mindscape and his hollow's melding into his mind had done to him. He started acting differently. He would bore incredibly easily, not finding any sense of enjoyment in the menial things he had used to enjoy. He became colder, going for days on end where he just did not feel anything at all, no feelings at all. His temper worsened, even worse than his already bad mood. He would snap at the smallest things but be perfectly fine with other things. He was amused at the actions of the people around him, how menial and worthless they were.<p>

It wasn't until he had seen Karin take out their father and he laughed that he realized what had exactly happened to him. His sisters had looked at him with fear when he laughed, even his father looked uneasy. His laugh had been cruel, dark, sinister. Like his hollow's laugh. He raced up to his room, feeling strangely giddy as he looked into the small mirror on his dresser. He looked different. His perpetual scowl was gone, a look of cold disinterest replacing it. His eyes were not those of his hollow, rather a combination of his own chocolate color and the unnatural coloring of the hollow. The irises of his eyes were still brown but a darker color with flecks of gold in them. His eyes would turn completely gold if the light hit them right or if he was in one of his rages.

He learned to hide his changes but knew he was not completely successful. He could see it in the faces of his friends; the confused look on Tatsuki's face when she saw his eyes, the way Chad would look at him longer than necessary, how worried Orihime was when he venomously refused to let her heal his old scars, how Ishida tried to avoid his eyes as if he knew, even Keigo when he had heard Ichigo laugh and backed away slightly.

He knew he was different but found he really didn't care what others thought of the new him. Because he was a completely different, he had merged with his hollow even without his powers. He had yet to gain the power his hollow promised him but he would wait, his hollow wouldn't lie to him, they were one mind now, there was no point.

It happened one day after he came home from school. His father was launching himself at his only son as usual and Ichigo sidestepped him, swinging a hand in his direction as he passed. He turned at the sound of a crash. His father was on the steps, the door bent in the middle with a huge hole in the middle. Ichigo just stared down at his hand, wondering what had just happened. It wasn't because of his lost shinigami powers nor was it any hollow power he was aware of. His father shot up, his eyes sharp, and ran upstairs muttering something about letters. Ichigo ignored him and went to his room, he didn't have much appetite anymore, unless he went for a longer run than normal. He started working out, not wanting to lose any of the strength he had spent so long building up. He had to deal with the usual street punks who had an issue with his hair but they had not been as persistent lately, as if sensing the change in him.

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><p>Ichigo quickly forgot about the door incident, figuring his old man must have been going faster than normal. He finished his last day of school for the year, glad he finally had a break and walked home by himself. He was wary when there was no attack at the front door and made his way silently to the kitchen.<p>

He was surprised by the sight of his father sitting and speaking with an older man with a long white beard and hair. Isshin actually civil for once, talking quietly with the old man. "Oy, what are you doing? Who's this?" The pair startled at Ichigo's question, they really must have not heard him. For an ex-captain his father was very lax.

Isshin looked up a tad nervously at his son, "This is Dumbledore Albus. He is the headmaster of a school in England. We were talking about you attending next school year."

Ichigo turned a skeptical look on the man, Dumbledore, before looking back at his father, "Why the hell would I want to go to England?"

"Because you need to be trained, my boy." Dumbledore answered, his eyes actually twinkling over his half moon glasses.

"Trained? For what?" This didn't make any sense.

Dumbledore smiled at him, "So that you do not cause harm to yourself or others. Magic can be very dangerous if not handled properly. You are a bit old to not know how to control yourself, your father and I were just discussing this."

"Magic? Are you screwing with me?"

"No he's not Ichigo. Magic is real. Those who practice magic, wizards and witches, are hidden from those who do not, they call them muggles. Your mother was not a witch but both of her parents were very good at magic. They come from a very good family of magic users. That is why you are going to be attending Dumbledore's school Hogwarts in September." His father looked serious for once. Maybe he was telling the truth.

"So what if my grandparents were magic users, that doesn't mean that I can do it." He pointed out.

"Yesterday with the door? You threw me without touching me. That is called accidental magic. You need to learn magic so that it does not happen again. If you learn magic you can use spells and other kinds of powers."

_Power? _Ichigo perked up at that and felt a mental smirk from the remaining bit of his hollow in his mind. "Alright, let's say I agree to go to this school, how am I going to pay for it? And I don't know anything about magic, how am I gonna fit in with the others my age?"

Dumbledore gestured for him to take a chair and he sat, "You will study over the summer to catch up with the students entering the third year. I fear trying to catch up with the students your age would be very difficult so you will enter the third year class. And about the fees, I am aware that your grandparents were rather well off and left you their vault in Gringotts."

"What is Gringotts?" He felt Dumbledore had a point about the age groups, he didn't want to try and cram several years worth of school into one summer.

"Gringotts is the wizard bank in Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley if the main shopping center for wizarding goods. You can get all the things you need for school there. You will be staying at an inn just outside of Diagon Alley until you leave for school on the first of September. We can leave as soon as you gather any things you will need for the next few months."

Ichigo stood and nodded once at the old man before heading for his room to pack. A small part of him was protesting, saying that this was happening too fast but the rest of him silenced it, saying that this was his chance for power and he wasn't going to hesitate. He was done hesitating; he would take what he wanted and deal with the consequences later.

He pulled out his suitcase and began packing, clothes, toiletries, everything he thought he needed to live his life away from home. He packed away his life into his suitcase and carried it down the stairs. "I'm ready, let's go."

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><p>So? Didja like it? Let me know please. I love reviewers.<p>

Give suggestions if you like. I just really like getting feedback. Whether its good or bad. If it is completely terrible then I'd like someone to tell me so I can change it.

See you whenever I'm done with the next chapter. It might be done soon, I like this story so I got ideas for now.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm awesome. I have decided this. Updated before I went to bed = awesomeness.

So you guys who reviewed (who I LOVE) you get your chapter. Enjoy.

I no own Bleach or Harry Potter. Disclaimers are getting old.

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><p>Yuzu and Karin were confused when they came home from school and found Ichigo with his things packed. Ichigo only gave them a brief answer, telling them that Isshin would tell them what was happening. He followed Dumbledore outside, anxious to be on his way, he wanted to start as soon as possible. He wanted to learn as much of this new power as he could. He would learn it and master it. He would not be weak. He felt a strange pulling in his stomach when he took the Headmaster's hand and shut his eyes when his surroundings blurred together. He staggered once he could feel ground under his feet but stayed upright, straightening when his head stopped spinning. Dumbledore looked surprised, 'What?" He didn't have time for the old man to stare at him.<p>

"Most people throw up the first time they apparate." He answered quietly.

Ichigo snorted, "They're wimps then. It made me a little dizzy, that's all. I don't see what the big deal is."

Dumbledore gave him an impressed look before leading him into a dingy looking store that the people on the street seemed to be ignoring, or did they not notice it? _Must be a wizard thing. All the signs are in English, we must have gone straight here. Nice. Saves me time. It's a good thing I took English in school, I'm just about fluent._

The building was dark and Ichigo paused to let his eyes adjust before following Dumbledore through the tables. It was an inn of sorts; Ichigo guessed this must be where he would be staying until school started. He looked around him, not really caring what was going on or the fact that the inn's inhabitants were now staring at him and Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon," Dumbledore greeted the man behind the counter.

He looked up and glanced between Dumbledore and Ichigo, "Hello there Dumbledore. Who's this you have with you? Looks like one of the Weasley's from his hair color but I've meet all the Weasleys."

Dumbledore chuckled while Ichigo wondered what the heck a Weasley was. "No, he is not from England. This is Mr. Ichigo Kurosaki. He will be attending Hogwarts as a transfer student this year."

"Transfer huh?" He looked Ichigo up and down before turning back to Dumbledore. "Isn't he a little old to be transferring?"

"Mr. Kurosaki's powers just surfaced recently. He will be studying this summer so that he can catch up to the third years."

"Ah, yeah. It would be too much of a strain to try and catch up to the kids his age." Tom nodded and offered a small smile to Ichigo, "Well I'm Tom and I own the Leaky Cauldron. Just come see me if you need anything."

Ichigo gave him a minute nod but otherwise made no expression. He followed Dumbledore out a back door that led to a dead end. He watched as the Headmaster tapped a few bricks on the wall and the bricks repositioned themselves, revealing a street.

Ichigo's eyes darted around as he took in everything he was seeing while his face remained blank. They made their way to a dark old looking building that was leaning slightly. It read Gringotts on the sign on the front of the building. They entered and made their way to the first open teller they saw. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the strange creatures sitting behind the desks; they were small and wrinkled with sharp noses and beady eyes.

"Yes Headmaster Dumbledore?" The creature asked, glancing at Icchigo. "How may we help you this day?"

Dumbledore gestured to Ichigo, "Mr. Kurosaki here would like to check the vault left to him by his grandparents."

It turned to look at Ichigo and he didn't even flinch, meeting the black eyes easily, "And does Mr. Kurosaki have his key?"

Ichigo dug out the small gold key that was in his mother's possessions. He held it out to the creature and it called another forward to take them down to the vault. They followed the creature in silence and Ichigo handed the key to it when they reached a large stone door. Ichigo was surprised at the amount of gold piled in the center of the stone room and walked up to it, "I didn't know the Gamp's were so well off. I never really met my grandparents, mainly because mom died when I was young. I'll put it to use. How much will I need for supplies?"

Dumbledore named an amount and the different coins and Ichigo poured the named amount into a bag he had brought with him. They left the bank and Ichigo pocketed the key and bag. Dumbledore took him around the Alley, pointing out what he would need for his studies over the summer and what he would need for the school year. Ichigo bought an owl too, since Dumbledore told him that was how students sent and received mail. Ichigo thought it was pretty ridiculous but purchased a huge owl called a Blackiston's fish owl, it was one of the largest owls in the world, Ichigo was confident that it could make the long flight to Japan if he ever needed it to.

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><p>Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling when he lead Ichigo into Ollivander's Wand Shop. The store was really dusty and pretty dim. The crazy haired man surprised Ichigo when he popped out from behind the counter but Dumbledore just greeted the man as if this was common. The silver eyed man looked very interested in Ichigo and had him come up and hold out his wand arm. Ichigo just held out his right, he didn't like using his left hand if he could avoid it. The tape measure continued on as the man, Ollivander, walked down the shelves covered in slender boxes muttering to himself. He returned and offered the pale wand to Ichigo. Ichigo pointed it at a potted plant and it shattered. This continued for the next ten or so wands before Ollivander came up with a black box, holding out the crimson and black wand with shaking fingers. Ichigo didn't know what he was afraid of and just grabbed the wand, a warm feeling rushed through his body and a wind colored black and red flowed around Ichigo.<p>

His grip tightened on the wand and he glanced at the shattered pot on the floor, he pointed the wand at it, ignoring the warnings of Ollivander and Dumbledore. He stared at the pot and pushed with his mind, imagining the force going through the wand. The pot repaired instantly and reclaimed its former position on the small table. He turned to see Dumbledore and Ollivander with their mouths open. "What?"

Ollivander shook out of his stare, "Eleven inches, unyielding, good for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Cherry and dragon heartstring. A very uncommon combination. Cherry alone makes for very powerful wands and is very rare but with a dragon heartstring core, it can have lethal power. You must have very strong self control young man, for such a powerful wand to have chosen you. Be careful with it, it can be dangerous if your mind is not strong enough."

Ichigo smirked, "I have a strong enough mind. I have a goal and will not stop until I achieve it, no matter what is in my way. I will succeed." He paid for the wand and walked out.

Ollivander turned to Dumbledore, "Be careful with this one Albus, you would not want him to fall into the wrong hands. Though I do feel he would be able to take care of himself, I have never see anyone cast a spell so soon after receiving their wand, how long has he been practicing magic?"

"He has never done magic. He just learned he was a wizard earlier today."

Ollivander was dumbstruck, using magic without any prior instruction? And silently too! "I would be especially careful with him then, we would not want a certain man to try and influence him. With a wand as powerful as that and with such a natural at magic there could be disastrous consequences."

Dumbledore bid him farewell and they continued with their shopping, Ichigo standing impatiently as the woman at the robes maker measured him. Ichigo finally told the woman he would be back tomorrow to pick them up, not seeing the need to wander the Alley for the few hours it would take her to make them.

Ichigo lugged his bags up the stairs of the Leaky Cauldron, looking for the room he had just paid for. He dropped his bags down along one wall before taking out his wand and looking at it. It was nice looking, for a stick. It was mostly black with blood red streaks thickening towards the tip and thinning nearing the handle. The tip was red while the handle was pitch black. The wand was smooth until it reached the handle, which looked like rough bark with almost jagged edges. Ichigo thought the handle fit him, his hands rough with calluses from sword fighting and street fighting.

He looked up to see Dumbledore had entered. "You are settled in then? Excellent. Will you be alright on your own? I can have someone stay with you if you do so wish.."

Ichigo shook his head, "I'm fine. I'm used to being on my own. Another person would just distract me. I have studies to get through."

"Alright then. I will have a few of my teachers stop in to check on you over the summer. Do your best and you may ask Tom or one of the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley if you need help with anything. I must be getting back to the school so I will see you in September. Good day Mr Kurosaki."

Ichigo nodded to him and dug out one of his textbooks. He opened it and started reading it immediately, so focused that he did not see the slightly worried look Dumbledore sent him before he left.

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><p>Ichigo tore through his textbooks, learning, memorizing, and practicing as many spells as he possibly could. He was almost upset at how weak some of the spells were and looked at the ends of the books to learn the more difficult and therefore more powerful spells. He needed power. He needed to regain his strength, and if he couldn't get his soul reaper powers back, he would become the strongest wizard he could possibly be.<p>

He stayed in his room for most of the time he was at the Leaky Cauldron, only leaving for meals or other such things.

He got a visit from two teachers at Hogwarts in the beginning of August. Professor McGonagall was a thin older woman who didn't look like she smiled much. Her companion looked even less agreeable than she, Professor Snape had oily black hair to his shoulders and a beakish nose and what looked like a permanent scowl, much like the one he used to have. Ichigo greeted them stiffly, digging through the chest he had bought for a new textbook. There were about a dozen scattered across the floor in front of his bed.

"What are you looking for Mr. Kurosaki?" that was McGonagall, she was obviously the more talkative of the two, which still wasn't saying much.

"Looking for a new textbook. I'm done with the ones on the floor. I'm gonna run out soon. Such a pain." He muttered and pulled out a hairy looking book.

McGonagall and Snape exchanged a look when he told them he was already done with a dozen textbooks already. It had only been a month. Then they spotted what book he was holding, McGonagall started to warn him, "Kurosaki don't, that book is-"

Ichigo had unlatched the strap holding the book closed as she finished. It immediately snapped at him, trying to take a chunk out of his hand. Before Snape or McGonagall could do anything to stop the beast book Ichigo grabbed it by one end and smashed it onto the floor. The ground shook slightly from the force and they heard the book whimper. Ichigo placed one hand on the cover and the Monster Book of Monsters flinched, "You will behave or I will find a shredder. Got it?" He snarled down at the book before picking it up and leafing through it. The book was shivering as he held it until he closed it and fastened it shut and put it away. He saw the shocked looks on the two professors faces, "What?"

"All you had to do to stop it was stroke the spine. The professor for the class would have told you that at the first lesson. What are you doing looking through the books for this year?" McGonagall's voice was a bit strangled, still shocked by the brutality the boy showed towards the book.

Ichigo scoffed, "I don't care. I made it submit, it won't cause trouble for me again. I don't take the easy route out, it's pathetic."

Snape decided he liked this Kurosaki boy. His brutality and cold manner would fit in perfectly in his house.

"And I started on this year's books because I'm basically done with the ones from the last two years and I'm bored. I need something to do for the next month. I've done all I can with what I have. I can't practice potions because if I mess them up I could damage the room and I can't practice my Defense either because I don't have targets. I'm mainly just doing theory work and memorizing. Hopefully classes are more difficult than these books, they're stupidly easy. No wonder they are for eleven and twelve year olds." He sighed and started stacking the textbooks he had already read in a neat pile.

"What will you do now that you have caught up?" Snape was interested in how this transfer would do in his class after only having studied theory.

Ichigo lifted the books easily, even though they must have weighed at least twenty or thirty pounds, and gave the teachers a bored look, "I'm going to return these books since there isn't anything more to learn from them, then I might get a job with one of the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley. I have way too much time to kill. I'll tear down the walls if I have to sit around doing nothing." With that he walked out of his room and down the stairs, the professors following. He stopped briefly, "You guys might as well go home, I don't need anything. I'll see you next month." He walked out of the inn.

Snape and McGonagall exchanged a look and turned to see Tom looking after where Ichigo had disappeared into the back exit. He gave them a small smile, "Mr. Kurosaki is a very interesting boy. Very quiet. Brings textbooks with him when he eats. He's been restless lately, says he's done with his studies so he's out of things to do. He's usually pretty laid back, doesn't seem interested in anyone else. Got a nasty temper tho'. Had a customer a few weeks ago, being disruptive. He'd been having too much of his drink and starting heckling the others. He wouldn't listen to me and took the book Mr. Kurosaki had been reading. Not sure what exactly happened, only that one second the guy was botherin Mr. Kurosaki and the next he was on the ground out cold with Mr. Kurosaki standing over him. A few of the bloke's friends came over and started yellin' at Mr. Kurosaki until he grabbed the front one by the neck and threw him to the ground, a huge grin on his face. Wouldn't want to get on Mr. Kurosaki's bad side, he grins like a maniac, gave me chills. Nope, wouldn't want to tick him off, not me."

McGonagall and Snape left with that thought weighing on their minds. How was he going to act at Hogwarts? Snape found himself actually fearing for young Malfoy's life a bit, he would have to watch his step around the transfer, that was for sure. How was Hogwarts going to deal with him?

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><p>So. Yay. Got the obligatory studyingcatching up chapter done.

Oh yeah and I gave Ichigo Pureblood parents. Look it up. Gamp is a Pureblood family in Harry Potter.

Also, what I put in about Cherry wood being strong by itself and it being lethal with dragon heartstring is also true. Don't believe me? Look it up.

So... Reviews please? I'm going to bed. It's finally the weekend and I think I'm going to sleep for a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

So when I first started on this chapter I couldn't really remember the events of the movie so I looked up a calendar. It turned out being the calendar for the books, so this chapter is a mixture of the movie and the book. It will mostly be based on the movie since I'm home for Spring break and can watch the movie to refresh my memory.

One thing though, for when I do the class with the hippogriffs, I will have several, not just Buckbeak like the movie. I like the idea of having more than one, it'll make it easier.

So the chapters will likely be a mix of the movie and the book but I'll try to keep to the common events as possible.

Someone commented that I gave a bad impression of Slytherin when Snape said Ichigo would be perfect for the house, I didn't really mean to, I guess I just picked the wrong words.

Also, Ollivander's warning about Ichigo was not foreboding, though I might make it... Not likely but I don't know. I just put it in there because it made Dumbledore have more reason to watch Ichigo.

K, so I don't own Harry Potter or Bleach. Just the idea, which many of you seem to like, which makes me happy.

Also! Finally a different point of view than Ichigo's. For those of you who thought it was getting to be too Ichigo-based.

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><p>Harry wandered around Diagon Alley for the last time before the school year started. It was August 31st finally and he couldn't wait to be at Hogwarts. His summer had been much better after he left the Dursley's after the incident with Aunt Marge. He hadn't exactly meant to turn her into a balloon but he wasn't going to apologize for it, that woman had asked for it! Insulting his parents as if she was better than they were! At least the Minister of Magic reassured him that he wasn't going to be expelled, that was a relief.<p>

He hadn't seen Ron or Hermione yet, even though Ron got back from his family trip to Egypt almost a week ago. He had spent almost the full month of August walking around Diagon Alley and doing his summer assignments. He couldn't focus on them at his uncle's place, nor did he have much time with his aunt and uncle treating him like a servant. How he hated them! He couldn't wait until he was old enough to move out on his own.

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><p>He had seen another student staying at the Leaky Cauldron. He had thought he was the only one who would spend so long at the inn. Maybe they had family problems as well? He had only managed to catch glimpses of the boy who was staying in room 15, just down the hall from him. He couldn't see much of the boy since he always wore a hood but he could sometimes see part of his face. From what he could see, the boy looked older and Harry wondered where he had come from, since he didn't recognize him. He couldn't possibly be a first year student, since he looked older than Harry, and he was on his own. First years almost always have a parent or mentor to help them get their belongings at Diagon Alley and help them get on the train.<p>

The other patrons of the Cauldron would avoid him if he was in the common room, usually reading or writing while he ate. Harry had asked the innkeeper Tom why this was and he explained that the boy had a temper and was best avoided. Tom just warned him to not upset the young inhabitant of room 15.

He put the young man out of mind when he ran into Hermione and Ron in the Alley. He joined them in getting their supplies even though he had already bought his last weekend.

He and Ron drooled over the Firebolt broom in the show window of Quality Quidditch Supplies while Hermione went to the Magical Menagerie. The boys walked in after her when she was gone for a while. They avoided the various creatures in the aisles and saw Hermione at the counter. She was talking to the tall young man behind the counter. The man towered over both Hermione and the witch in heavy black glasses next to him. His hair was a bright orange, lighter in shade than Ron's redder hair but sticking out in spikes. He finished talking to Hermione and passed her a basket. Hermione made her way around the crowded shelves to where Ron and Harry were standing. She showed her friends the light orange smushed face cat she had purchased and they moved on to finish their shopping and head back to the Leaky Cauldron.

They sat down for dinner in the common room. The three discussed the escape of Sirius Black with worry, afraid of what the man was capable of and what he might do. It was as loud as usual until a tall man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt came down the stairs and the volume dropped by almost half. The man ignored the other customers, receiving a bowl of something from Tom and sitting at an empty table before opening a book to read as he ate. He ignored the noise, not even looking at the most recent Daily Prophet issue telling about Mass Murderer Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban and goes back upstairs when he is done eating. Harry saw the questioning looks on his friends' faces and mouthed _later_. They nodded and finished their meal before going to Harry's room.

"Why did everyone quiet when that man came down? Who is he?" That was Hermione, always straight to the point.

"I don't know who he is; just that he's been staying here longer than I have. I've asked Tom but he says I don't need to know. Tom warned me, said not to make him mad, says he's got a horrid temper. I think that's why the other people were quiet; maybe they saw him when he was mad." Harry explained, curious himself.

"How bad could he be? The older wizards shouldn't be afraid of him." Ron questioned.

Harry thought he had a point but then there was the strange way Tom had acted, "Tom was afraid of him. Or rather, was afraid of angering him."

That stunned the Golden Trio, Tom had surely seen a lot of bad customers but to have one that _he_ was scared of, who was that man?

"He lives in room 15. I haven't seen him that often but I think I recognized the book he had, it was one of our textbooks from last year."

Hermione started, "One of ours? Why would he have a student textbook? Maybe he is our Defense teacher?"

Harry shook his head, "No, it was a Transfiguration book. I don't think he's old enough to teach anyway, our professors are usually in their thirties at least."

Hermione nodded, he was right. Any younger and it wouldn't be likely that they would have the experience needed to properly teach students.

They bounced theories off each other for a while before they separated to their rooms for the night.

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><p>They packed their things quickly the next morning and headed down for breakfast. The strange man wasn't there today and they left quickly for the train station.<p>

When they reached the column leading to the platform they spotted a familiar silhouette standing a few feet away and staring as a student ran through the portal. The hooded man from the inn tensed at the moment before the student hit the wall and started when they disappeared. He stayed where he was as Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys passed through the wall and out of sight.

As they found a mostly empty compartment, the only other person was a man sleeping with his coat draped over his body; they settled in and discussed what they had seen. "He saw us going to the platform; he must be going to Hogwarts!" Hermione insisted.

"He could just be a normal wizard; he was staying at the Cauldron." Harry pointed out but he had a feeling she was right.

Hermione was about to expand on what she was saying when the door to the compartment opened with a bang. The hooded man stood there, face in shadow from his deep hood, "Can I sit with you? The other compartments are too loud."

They nodded dumbly and he hefted his heavy trunk with one hand to set in on the ceiling rack. Placing a large cage holding one of the largest owls the students had ever seen next to it. The vicious looking bird fixed bright yellow eyes on the trio and screeched at them, only quieting when the hooded man made a _tsk_ noise at it. It ruffled its feathers and continued to stare unnervingly at them. He sat next to the other covered man and stretched his long arms above him before leaning back into the red seat.

Ron looked like he was fighting an impulse before he lost control and blurted, "Who are you?"

Harry wanted to smack his friend for being so rude but it turned out that he didn't have to, Hermione did it for him. The stranger did not show any sign of how the question had affected him, mostly due to the fact that they couldn't actually see his face, he just answered with a question, "It's rude to ask someone their name without offering your own first, don't you think?"

His voice was deep, cold, cruel, and slightly mocking with a slight accent that they couldn't place. Ron actually flushed and shivered at the same time before stuttering out, "R-Ron Weasley."

Harry had a feeling the man was looking Ron before possibly turning to Hermione. She must have felt his eyes because she answered the unspoken question, "Hermione Granger."

Then Harry felt a pressure and muttered, "Harry Potter," already anticipating the loud reaction.

He didn't get one; the stranger just gave a slight nod and said, "Ichigo Kurosaki," before settling back into his seat.

Harry gaped at the man, as he was sure Ron and Hermione were also doing, when the man showed no reaction at all to his identity. Harry started forward, about to ask him why he had no reaction but he heard the deep breathing of the man and realized he was asleep. He exchanged amazed looks with his friends and they started talking about him, trying to figure out why he hadn't reacted and just who he was.

They looked at the other hidden man as well, only finding out his name from his suitcase sitting in the ceiling rack. He seemed to be asleep as well, though he still seemed a bit stiff, as if he wasn't sleeping very deeply.

* * *

><p>The trio almost fell out of their seats when the train suddenly stopped on a bridge. The two hooded men still did not move, even when the temperature dropped and dark shapes flew around outside the train. The trio was frozen with fright when a bony black hand opened the door to their compartment, the glass freezing over around its touch. The black cloaked creature that entered made the trio shiver in fright and cold. It turned to the nearest person, the hooded boy, but it seemed to withdraw from him, turning instead to Harry.<p>

Harry thought he was going to die when the creature bent over him and sucked something from him. The bright light that shone from the cloaked man's wand was his salvation and the cloaked creature shrieked and fled. The man, Lupin, according to his suitcase, handed him a bar of chocolate and left the compartment.

The hooded boy looked around him slowly, lingering on the pale face of Harry and pointing to the chocolate in his hands, "You should probably eat that. You look like you're about to pass out, it'll help."

When Lupin returned to the compartment and repeated what Ichigo had just said Harry complied, feeling a bit better after he ate the sweet.

* * *

><p>When they arrived at the station Harry rushed off the train as soon as possible, not wanting to stay any longer than necessary. His friends followed him and Ichigo followed them, leaving his things on the train after seeing that they did.<p>

Ichigo paused, staring at the black skeletal horses pulling the carriages most of the students were entering, and wondered what the hell was wrong with these people. Didn't they see them? They were right there! He noticed that none of them seemed to notice, just going right on to the carriages that were pulled up a well worn path towards the huge castle in the distance. He turned and walked towards where McGonagall was waiting with what he assumed was the first years. He hung back, behind all of the much smaller students who looked at him fearfully, wondering who this tall hooded person was. McGonagall looked up and spotted him, giving a nod of approval before she led them to the lake.

He looked over the castle once and scoffed, you'd think in this day and age you would modernize a bit. They'd probably say it's 'traditional.' _Fools_. Wizards have too much time on their hands, if they really wanted to get anything done, they'd create some spells that are actually useful for once. Not just have a bunch of spells that do the same damn thing in different intensities. Worthless. He pulled his hood down to cover more of his face; he didn't feel like dealing with any of the crap about his hair color again. Not that these magic brats would be much of a challenge, he'd be surprised if they could actually fight without their precious magic.

He followed McGonagall up the steps and leaned against a wall while she explained to the first years about the sorting. Ichigo had read the book about the school and didn't feel like pretending to care, so he didn't. He was going to be waiting until the first years were sorted before he even got into the hall in the first place so he was going to take it easy. He looked around the hall, ignoring the interested looks of the many portraits (who the hell's idea what _that _anyway? Make pictures move? As if there wasn't enough pointless magic as is) and trying to get his bearings. It was classic castle style, stone walls, suits of armor, old paintings, some tapestries. Boring. This place was going to be a snooze fest. Maybe he could talk Dumbledore into letting him move up to one of the older classes after all? It would be too easy otherwise.

He could hear the shouting of the sorting hat every now and then and ignored it, he really didn't give a shit what class he was in. The whole house rivalry thing meant nothing to him, he wasn't here to talk to anyone, he was here to learn all the magic he could. He wondered if they had any martial arts? He would need _something_ to keep him in shape. He doubted it, seemed like everyone outside of the Asian countries couldn't fight worth shit. He sighed and rubbed his eyes under his hood, this was going to be so boring it would be exhausting. Then he heard Dumbledore say his name and figured it was time for his grand entrance. Yay for him. _Let's get this shit over with_.

* * *

><p>The Great hall was loud from all the students greeting their friends and talking about what had happened on the train. Harry had apparently been the only one who had actually been attacked, or whatever it did, on the train but a few others had seen them. All Harry knew was that he didn't want to see a dementor again.<p>

Dumbledore's announcement about the dementors patrolling the school grounds did not make anyone feel any better. The new Defense teacher didn't seem so bad; it was the man from the train who had fought off the dementor. Harry thought he looked nice, anyone would be better than Lockhart, Quirrel hadn't been any better. His last announcement however, caused the most talk.

"We at Hogwarts will be joined by an additional student this year. Mr. Kurosaki has just recently exerted his magic for the first time but he will not be joining the first years, he will be joining the third year class as he started magic late and is older than the first years. He has come all the way from Japan to attend our school to follow in the footsteps of his grandparents. Please give welcome to Mr. Ichigo Kurosaki from Japan!"

The doors banged open and a hooded figure was visible. The boy was tall, close to 6 feet, and had a lithe frame but there was visible muscle under his robes. He wore a black hood that covered his head and cast his face into dark shadow. A strange intensity seemed to cling to him as he stalked down the main aisle towards the head table. He did not hesitate or look to the side at all, focused solely on the Headmaster and the stool sitting in front of him.

He stopped in front of the stool and McGonagall motioned towards his hood. He threw off the hood and turned to sit. The first thing everyone noticed was the vivid orange hair jutting out in spikes in all directions, making everyone think of the Weasleys before they noticed the differences, his hair was straight orange, not red like those from the Weasley family. He had a harsh face, sharp cheekbones under thin slanted eyes, dark brown but shining gold when the light hit them. He was tanned all over his face and neck, the only spot of different coloration was the slightly lighter shade of a scar peeking out at the base of his neck. His handsome face was void of all expression except vague disinterest.

McGonagall picked up the hat and had just barely set it on his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" as if it wanted away from him as soon as possible. She looked at it, surprised at its reaction, and set it down when Ichigo stood and made his way over to the table with a banner of a snake hanging over it. He ignored the looks from his new housemates and pulled his hood back on, sitting at the end of the table silently. As soon as the food appeared he helped himself and started eating, ignoring the fact that pretty much the whole room was staring at him.

Everyone in the room started eating, figuring that he wasn't going to do anything strange other than eating his dinner. A hand pulled down his hood as he was eating and the room froze, its inhabitants holding their breaths as the transfer stilled. He turned slightly to look over his shoulder at whoever had disturbed him. Malfoy stood behind him, looking at his hair with contempt written plain on his face. "Looks like we have a Weasley in our midst. What is a blood traitor doing in Slytherin?" He sneered at Ichigo, flicking his hood and folding his arms what he thought was intimidating, Crabbe and Goyle standing behind him and putting on tough faces.

Ichigo did not respond for a moment, then turned around in his seat until he was facing the blond, his elbows resting on his long legs. "Are you deaf or just plain stupid?" He rumbled and let out a tiny smile at the angered look on the younger boy's face. "My last name is Kurosaki, not Weasley. My mother was Masaki Gamp. I am not related in any way to anyone in the Weasley bloodline. Get your facts straight, and don't touch me while you're at it." He yanked his hood up and turned back to his food.

Malfoy was fuming, frustrated that the boy was actually from a pure blood family that was truly not related to the Weasley family. He grabbed Ichigo's shoulder, turning him around partially, "I wasn't done talking to you!"

Ichigo froze completely and Malfoy was unable to budge him with his hand. Then, slowly, Ichigo turned around and withdrew from the table, rising to his full height. He towered over the much shorter blond and leant down slightly to look right into Malfoy's eyes. "I thought I told you," he rumbled, his voice dangerously low, "Not to touch me."

Malfoy shivered at the look in the other boy's eyes, they were cold but had a burning anger in them. Malfoy shook himself, ashamed that he had allowed another intimidate him. He glared up at the transfer as he straightened, "I am a pureblood, surely your parents would have taught you to respect those better than you?"

Ichigo scanned the shorter boy's face and smirked, "Considering the fact that my mom was a squib and my dad's a muggle I'd say no, not that I give a shit about bloodlines anyway."

Malfoy startled, "You're a mudblood?" He gasped, completely at a loss, "What are you doing in Slytherin then?" the rest of the students at the table had apparently heard him and were staring, just as confused as the blond.

"So what if I am? Not that it matters. Blood means nothing. Muggle born wizards can be more powerful than pureblooded ones. And I'm in this house because this is the house the sorting hat put me in; it's as simple as that." He straightened and turned on his heel, walking out of the Great Hall, leaving the whole room staring after him.

* * *

><p>So there we go. Commence Ichigo's plan (unintentional of course) of shattering the steriotypes about Mudbloods. And Malfoy bashing. Always the Malfoy bashing. I can't help myself.<p>

Happy you got a new chapter? Review and tell me what you liked/disliked about it! Or give me suggestions! I love reviewers! I do! More reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write more chapters! Just so you know...

Ciao!


	4. Chapter 4

So I'm back. Finally. This chapter took way too fucking long to write. Sorry it took so long. It just really wasn't coming easy for me. Finished now so you all get a new chapter.

Hope you like it.

I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter. Seriously, why do I even need to bother with these things? As if I would be writing fanfiction is I actually owned one of the things I write about. God. Whatever. Enjoy. Happy Easter/Passover for those of you who celebrate it. I don't but I had my dorm room invaded and eggs hidden for me to find. I found all but one and gave up. I'll probably find it in a couple weeks. Oh well. Or I'll make someone tell me where it is. I has candy now so I'm set.

* * *

><p>Harry walked down to Hagrid's hut with the rest of the third year Griffindors and Slytherins, his hairy textbook in hand. Ichigo was already there, leaning against the side of the small house and leafing through his book with a bored look on his face. Harry stared at the boy, wondering how he had managed to open his book without it trying to attack him. He could tell the others around him were wondering the same thing but Hagrid showed up before anyone could question the new student about it.<p>

He led them to a clearing a short ways into the Forbidden Forest and told them to open their textbooks as he moved into the trees. At least Malfoy was good for something, if only for rudely asking how to open their books. Harry wondered if Ichigo had asked Hagrid before they had arrived. Harry had a feeling he hadn't, since the other boy was halfway through the book already. How had he opened the book then? He had actually looked unimpressed when Hagrid told them all they had to do was stroke the spine of the book.

* * *

><p>Ichigo watched the gob smacked looks on his classmates' faces when they saw the hippogriffs. He had already read the section of the textbooks describing them so he wasn't surprised. He had seen so many strange things in his sixteen years that nothing caught him off guard anymore. There were three hippogriffs, the front one, the one Hagrid introduced as Buckbeak, looked the most interested in the class. The other two hung back a bit, watching the class warily.<p>

Ichigo smirked under his hood when the class drew back, forcing Harry to be the volunteer without his notice. The boy was so hesitant approaching Buckbeak Ichigo actually thought the beast was going to attack him for a moment, then it calmed and returned his bow. _He wavers too much_, Ichigo noticed, _if you want a beast to acknowledge you, you must be unyielding, if you show that you're nervous it won't take you seriously. If he read the book he'd know that._ He ignored the excited chatter when the hippogriff flew off with Harry, Hagrid seemed confident that nothing bad would happen to him. When Hagrid turned back to the class asking for another volunteer Ichigo sighed, the class was full of cowards. He strode forward, throwing back his hood as he approached the hippogriff closest to the trees. He ignored Hagrid's warnings about it being the most dangerous and liking humans the least, he would deal with it.

The hippogriff, that had black hindquarters and slightly lighter mottling in the feathers covering its front half, made a startled sound when it noticed him coming closer. It pawed the ground and made to rear up when Ichigo fixed it with a cold stare. His gaze did not waver as he looked into the yellow eyes of the animal, his own eyes flashing poisonous gold. It started again but kept its feet on the ground as he stopped in front of it, offering a much shallower bow than Harry had. He stared at the darker hippogriff until it bowed back, much lower than he had. He straightened and stalked up to it once it had straightened; he stopped a few feet away from it and held one hand in the air. The hippogriff placed its head under his hand and made little noises as he brushed his hand over its face. He scratched under its chin and it jerked its head, looking somewhere in the distance.

Ichigo turned to see what the hippogriff was looking at but couldn't see anything above the trees. He walked a bit towards the beast's tail and leapt onto the dark creature's back. The other students wondered how he had jumped so high, considering the hippogriff's back was higher than his shoulders. He looked up again and spotted Buckbeak returning with Potter from his higher view point.

He watched silently as Hagrid helped the younger student off Buckbeak's back and gave the hippogriff a dead ferret as a reward. The other students hesitantly approached Buckbeak as they congratulated Harry and asked him what the flight was like.

Except Malfoy, he seemed angry that Harry had 'shown off,' or what he thought was showing off. He stalked towards Buckbeak, ignoring the instructions Hagrid had given them for their own safety, and was shocked when the hippogriff reared up in surprise. It was just bad luck that one of the hippogriff's front talons grazed him when it was coming down.

Ichigo nudged the hippogriff with his heel and it walked forward obediently while Malfoy was whining on the ground and Hagrid was making Buckbeak back off. He looked down at his classmate, face completely blank, "You're pathetic. It's your own fault you got injured and you go and blame it on an animal that was only acting on instinct. What's your excuse? Your instinct is to act like a moron? Pathetic."

* * *

><p>Malfoy flushed at the disgust and contempt in the other boy's voice but could not retort as Hagrid returned and picked him up at Hermione's insistence that he be taken to the infirmary. The new student, Kurosaki, did something to make the nearly black hippogriff he rode rear up slightly and pivot on its hind legs. "I can take care of myself Hagrid. I'll take this guy out for a quick run and then I can watch them until you get back if you want?" The orange haired student stared at their professor until he nodded dumbly and walked for the castle, most of the students following him. Malfoy glanced back over the half-giant teacher's shoulder to see the dark hippogriff take off, the new student firmly on its back.<p>

* * *

><p>Ichigo enjoyed the flight on the black hippogriff, glad that his initial interpretation of the beast was correct. It had looked bored but too wary of humans to easily allow the person necessary for it to get a good workout. It had good muscle tone, slimmer muscle than its fellows, more suited to speed than pure power. It was why he had urged the beast to such great speeds when they had flown off, he knew the hippogriff needed it. He figured the beasts didn't get to fly around on their own often. When he returned to the clearing he took the last hippogriff out, it was lighter than Buckbeak, a lighter grey. It was not as fast as the black hippogriff but was better at turning and maneuvering in the air. It was smaller than the others, a female, and more cautious towards him initially but calmer on the flight.<p>

* * *

><p>He did as he said he would, staying with the hippogriffs until Hagrid returned. He brushed them with a coarse brush he found, their horse parts anyway, and walked them to a small stream nearby for a drink. When Hagrid finally got back to the clearing around and hour later Ichigo was sitting on a log reading his textbook with the hippogriffs scattered around him. The black one was lying down a few feet in front of him, the light grey was nosing around a bush near the trees and Buckbeak was digging at a small hole in the middle of the clearing where it thought there might be an animal nest.<p>

* * *

><p>Hagrid was surprised at how calm the hippogriffs were being. Buckbeak was the most social of the three and even he was hesitant about being around humans. Yet the most wary hippogriff, the black one, was the closest to the young student. The student (Eecheego?) looked completely calm, as if he dealt with the magical creatures on a regular basis. Hagrid honestly hadn't known what to expect when he had come back to the clearing, but it was not to see the hippogriffs acting like they did around him. He was half giant, so he had blood more similar to beasts than wizards but the beasts treated the student like he was like Hagrid.<p>

Then the student looked up and, spotting Hagrid easily, stood and stretched. "I was wondering when you'd get back. I watched them like I said I would, not that they caused any problems. Buckbeak tried to eat my book at one point but I set him straight and he started trying to dig up that burrow. He's been at it for more than five minutes already; I didn't think hippogriffs could be so focused." He turned to the black hippogriff that had just gotten to its feet to stand behind him, "This guy here just wanted to nap. Lazy bugger. Probably tired him out from our flight. He's kind of out of shape." The black hippogriff butted him with its head as if it knew what the orange haired boy was saying and he turned to scratch behind its ear tufts. It made cooing noises and lowered its head more so he could reach.

He looked up and snorted at the look on Hagrid's face. He gave the black hippogriff one last scratch and walked to where his book was lying a few feet away, "Well I'm done, see you next class Professor." Hagrid started and watched as the transfer walked leisurely back towards the castle.

Hagrid turned back to the hippogriffs and saw that they were all looking after where the transfer student had disappeared. Hagrid decided to talk to him at a later time and focused on settling the beasts for the night instead, wondering to himself just who the boy really was.

* * *

><p>Ichigo stood in the back of the Defense classroom, eying the dresser in the front of the room with distrust. It was the second Defense Against the Dark Arts class and it was the rest of the class' turn to face the boggart. Ichigo wasn't surprised when Harry's fear took the form of a dementor, they were nasty creatures. He thought Neville was pathetic to be afraid of Snape though, it wasn't like the teacher could actually harm him at all. Ichigo ignored Lupin's instructions, exactly the same as from last class, and instead stared at the dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling. He figured it must have been a young dragon, since they were usually much bigger. He couldn't care less what the students feared, they were menial things, nothing compared to hollows.<p>

He stepped up to the cupboard when it was his turn, he was last in line. The boggart turned to look at him, a vicious dog turned neon by the _Riddikulus_ spell, and blurred as it changed to the shape of Ichigo's worse fear.

* * *

><p>The class stared in confusion at Ichigo's fear, Lupin seemed especially puzzled. Ichigo's fear was a twin of himself. The boggart's hair was slightly shorter and a tad brighter, its skin more tanned, but otherwise looked exactly like Ichigo. The boggart's eyes were different though, they were chocolate brown and lost-looking. The class turned to see Ichigo's response to his boggart's shape and were shocked by the rage on his normally blank face. His eyes were straight gold now, fury burning in the abnormal colored orbs as he looked at his greatest fear. His wand snapped upwards and his grip tightened on the black and red wood, a fierce scowl on his face. The boggart froze, eyes widening in fear as the orange haired boy brought his wand down, "<em>Eversio.<em>" The shifty creature let out a single pained shriek before it shuddered once and disintegrated.

The class stared at the pile of ash, the only thing left of the boggart, wondering just what happened. What had made Ichigo so angry and afraid of himself (since his boggart looked like him so he was afraid of himself as far as they knew) that he would destroy it? And what was that spell he used? It wasn't in the textbooks they used. Some students snuck glances at Hermione to see what she thought of the spell but she was gaping, clearly not recognizing the spell he used. They looked at Ichigo who was just staring down at the remains of the creature he had just killed with a blank expression. He still looked angry, his eyes were burning gold still even while his face was empty of emotion.

"Class dismissed." Lupin choked out. "Not you Mr. Kurosaki. I would like to see you for a moment in my office please." Ichigo just shrugged and followed the man up the stairs to his office while the class filed out, a few glancing back at the transfer. Ichigo ignored the grindylow in the corner of the office and took a seat in front of the desk.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Lupin was surprised at how deep the boy's voice was. It was not the voice of a young student, it was too cold. He took a closer look at the new student, he had his hood down for once and he could see the sharp planes of his face easily. His eyes were still burning a bit, but had calmed from their intense fury from before. They returned to their usual dark brown, no longer the unnatural gold.

"I am confused Mr. Kurosaki," He started, Ichigo only raising a single eyebrow in what might have been curiosity, Lupin couldn't read the orange haired boy. "The shape of your fear was most odd, would I be correct in assuming that you fear yourself?"

The single eyebrow dropped and Ichigo stared at Lupin with his still smoldering eyes, "That is quite personal Professor and I do not see a need for you to know anything about the matter."

Lupin was taken aback from the boy's attitude, he was completely unrelenting, not embarrassed by his fear but defensive. "I just find it curious that you would fear yourself, there are so many more things out in the world that are frightening, it seems a bit odd."

"I know full well what terrors the world holds. I am not some sheltered pureblood brat, I have encountered monsters in my life. I do not fear them. My fear is not myself, just so you know, but I will not expand on it. My fears are my business and no concern of yours." His eyes were steady and hard, not blinking as he stared at the Defense teacher.

Lupin found himself nodding, "Yes, yes of course, I did not mean to pry. I just found it odd that you were so upset at the sight of your fear that you would attack it, what was that spell by the way? I do not think I have heard of it before."

Ichigo snorted, his eyes losing some of their fire and he sank back in his chair, "I wasn't upset, I was pissed. I don't take kindly to mental attacks like the boggart so I retaliated. And the spell I used isn't in any books, I came up with it myself."

"By yourself?" Lupin choked, a third year student shouldn't be able to invent spells, only the rare seventh year managed to come up with and successfully perform their own spells, it was too complex for someone with insufficient experience. Yet a third year invented his own spell, performed it, and acted like he hadn't done anything important.

"Yeah, I couldn't find any decent destruction spells so I came up with one on my own. All the spells in the books are too weak, not good for any damage. It took me about two weeks I think, to come up with the concept and use it successfully. _Eversio _is great for destroying anything, living or not. I'm working on a couple more but _Eversio _was definitely the best so far." He shrugged, as if he was not doing things impossible for third years.

"You have _more_?"

The eyebrow rose again, "Yeah, I don't much care for the spells you wizards use here, they're too weak. The only spells that actually do any real damage are the Unforgivables and no one is allowed to use them. I don't see the point in making spells that no one is allowed to use, seems stupid to me. So I came up with a few on my own because I figured if I can't find spells that do what I want, I'll just make some myself. I want some spells that can be used to get information out of people without torturing them. There really aren't any good spells for roughing someone up so I wanted some. I'm also working on one that lets you walk on air, I don't like brooms and I figured it might be useful. The last one I'm working on is one that blunts the edges of a blade, to keep it from cutting." He looked incredibly pleased with himself and Lupin just gaped at him. "Is that all professor? I have classes."

Lupin nodded dumbly and Ichigo rose, slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving the office without a backwards glance. Lupin shot out of chair after the student left and headed for Dumbledore's office, he had a free period before his next class, he needed to talk to the Headmaster about Kurosaki.

* * *

><p>The gargoyle slid aside and Lupin almost tripped in his haste to speak with the Headmaster, the old wizard looked up as he entered with a surprised expression. "Yes Remus? How can I help you?"<p>

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Lupin stated and Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "Who is he?"

"What has the boy done now?"

Lupin started, "He has caused problems?"

Dumbledore shook his head tiredly, "No, no. He is just a very strong character. He seems to attract attention no matter what he does. He rode a hippogriff during his first Magical Creatures' lesson and then cared for the beasts while Hagrid took Mr. Malfoy to the infirmary. Hagrid was rather confused at how the hippogriffs took to him, acting perfectly calm in his presence. Then he brewed a perfect potion even though it was the first time he had ever done so and had never practiced. McGonagall is concerned about him, he is bright, almost too bright, and seems to have an almost obsessive need to learn more. What has he done in your class?"

Lupin stored the student's feats for later thought, and turned his attention back to Dumbledore, "We had the second boggart lesson today. Mr. Kurosaki's fear took the shape of himself, though there were a few differences. He seemed angered at his fear, not afraid, and he destroyed the boggart with an unknown spell. He would not tell me why his boggart was in the shape of himself but told me that the spell was his own and he was working on at least two others." He paused, letting Dumbledore absorb just what he had said and the man's blue eyes widened. "Dumbledore, a third year student should not be able to create their own spells, they have neither the experience nor the control to perform new spells. He acted as if it was not a big deal and kept talking about how our spells don't do enough damage. He spoke of harming others as if he was used to violence and it was common to him. Just who is this boy Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore saw that the man was not likely to calm any time soon and he sighed, "He is a new student. His magic just flared up at the beginning of the summer. His father contacted me even though he was a muggle. Kurosaki's mother was a squib born to the Gamp bloodline but told her husband about the wizarding world in case the magic gene skipped a generation. It did and I visited the Kurosaki house. Ichigo did not hesitate to agree to attend Hogwarts. We decided to have him join the third year because he has had no prior schooling. If he had, he would have been in the sixth year since he is sixteen. I had Minerva and Severus visit the Leaky Cauldron in August after he had been studying for a month and they told me that he had already finished the first two years of textbooks in a month and had started on the third year books. Kurosaki has requested to be moved up to one of the older classes since the classes are apparently too easy for him. He has almost perfect marks in every subject. I told him that he could go through the textbooks over the summer and join whatever year he reached next year. He will be assigned all the work students would normally receive and reach whatever he can by the end of the summer. I am worried that he is so focused on power, he learns the spells he needs to know for assignments but only seems to truly care for the ones he thinks as being useful. With the wand he has, he truly is a force to be reckoned with."

"His wand?" What could his wand have to do with his strength?

"His wand is cherry with dragon heartstring. Ollivander explained that cherry is powerful on its own, but can be deathly powerful with a dragon heartstring core. His wand is unyielding, like his mind, and very powerful. I fear for whoever may get in his way, he will not take kindly to those who interfere with him. I have tried to keep an eye on him but the boy makes it difficult. He does not care for other students and has no apparent friends. He only focuses on his schoolwork and nothing else, spending his weekends in the library. I had to allow him access to the restricted section just so he would stop sneaking in on his own. He does not seem to care about any of the rules, acting as he wishes and does not care about the consequences of his actions. He does not disclose any information about himself and does not seem to trust anyone, not even me. He is very isolated and he purposely makes it that way, keeping to himself and not even speaking unless he is addressed directly and has to answer. The only time I have seen him speak up is when those around him were being too loud when he was working. He has a fair portion of the school afraid of him, even the older students, though he has not gotten into any fights since he enrolled, despite the fact that his father told me that he used to fight often in his home town."

Lupin stewed on that, the boy was a mystery and seemed intent on staying that way. He wasn't sure what he could do for the boy if he did not open up. It was slightly worrying that he had _no_ friends whatsoever in the school. Even the most unique students found others to confide in but Kurosaki was purposely isolating himself and didn't care about others. "What should we do?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "I do not know. Watch him, for now. Offer our help shall he need it. Make it clear that there are people available should he need help or someone to talk to. It's all we can do."

Lupin nodded, resigned. Dumbledore was right. All they could do was watch out for the boy and wait.

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><p>So yeah, Lupin and Dumbledore are confused about Ichigo and he isn't making it easy for them. Ichigo does what he wants, he don't give a shit about anyone else, he's just working on getting stronger.<p>

Soooo... Review? I like them. I do. Plus they're basically the main the reason I write new chapters since I don't really have any ideas for next chapter so it will probably be another long wait before the next chapter is up. Give me suggestions if you want my to update soon. The only thing I have planned is Ichigo possibly beating up Malfoy for getting his dad to 'kill' Buckbeak and Sirius showing up at the castle. Might have another dementor scene in there too. I don't know why but I want the dementors to be afraid/wary of Ichigo.

I dunno. I don't plan things out usually. I think I'mm gonna go and write another chapter for Captains Turned Wizards?(or whatever my other Bleach x HP fanfic is. I don't remember names) now. I think I've kept those readers long enough. Ta.


	5. Chapter 5

Yay new chapter! I did this in like 3 hours so its kinda short. It's also short cuz I felt like ending the chapter at this point and didn't feel like writing any more.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love you guys.

This chapter? Malfoy bashing. Literal Malfoy bashing. And non-literal Hermione, Ron, and kind of Neville bashing. Not so much Neville, but Ichigo gives his opinion on them all.

Hope you like the chapter. I don't own anything. If you recognize it, I don't own it.

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><p>Students leapt to get out of the way of the fuming transfer student. No one knew quite what set the boy off and no one was willing to get close enough to ask. Some thought it was the fact that Lupin had been missing from his classes, Snape substituting for him, something that would upset anyone who had to spend any more time than necessary with the Potions Master. Others thought that it was the fact that the school had had to sleep in the Great Hall after Sirius Black invasion of the castle and assault on the Griffindor painting the Fat Lady.<p>

The older boy practically radiated anger, his face set in a fierce scowl as his long legs ate up the ground on his way to the Slytherin dorms. He paused only to give the portrait guarding the pathway the password and glare at it when it didn't open fast enough for his tastes. He headed straight for his dorm room, grabbed his cloak, and stalked back out without a glance at anyone in the common room or the dorm.

His wand was out, held in a white-knuckled grip as his eyes flashed gold, heading for the front entrance now. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of anything his wand dished out, his killing of the boggart last week already getting around the school, making the students even more wary of him. He ignored them as he always did; heading out to take his frustrations on something else that would not get him in as much trouble. He headed for the Forbidden Forest once he was out of sight of the castle, he was going to break something to calm him down, and no magical creatures had better get in his way, for their sake.

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><p>It had been hours since dinner, since Ichigo had left to take his anger out on something non-living in the Forest. He paused as he sensed a presence, his instincts not as sharp as they had been but multiple times better than those of any wizard. The howl that suddenly silenced the woods only confirmed his suspicions; it seemed Snape had been trying to tell the class something. <em>Sneaky bastard<em>. He did not run when the large, thin form of the werewolf topped a hill and saw him. Did not flinch as its golden eyes met his. All that happened was his grip tightening on his wand as his eyes flashed a more poisonous yellow than the wolf creature's.

The creature hesitated, unsure of this strange young human before it. The human did not look afraid, did not smell afraid, and challenged it with its eyes and posture. It let out a growl at the human but the human only looked amused. Why did the human look amused? It was a youngling. A pup. Not strong, surely. Young humans were never strong, they were weak, frightened. But this young human was not, it smelled of blood and death. Why was that? Then the human raised its stick and the werewolf snarled. It knew that humans with sticks were dangerous, they made it hurt. It would kill the human before it could hurt.

Ichigo smirked as the werewolf lunged at him, a single flick of his dark wand and, "_Suffoco_" was enough to halt it as the air in its lungs stilled. The werewolf's yellow eyes widened as it gasped, gripping its throat in an attempt to bring air into its lungs, a futile effort thanks to Ichigo's newest spell. It collapsed as Ichigo stayed where he was, wand still pointed at the creature, holding the spell on it. He finally released it when he noticed the creature's eyes beginning to grow dull from lack of oxygen. He scowled as it wheezed, taking in deep breaths to get more oxygen into its body.

He glared at it when it made to get to its feet and approach him and it stilled, staring into those merciless golden eyes with an instinctive fear, this human was not to be fought. It stopped and turned away from the frightening human, leaving the clearing in the opposite direction as the human.

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><p>Ichigo sat at the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting for the class to start. The students silenced somewhat when Lupin entered, looking more haggard than usual, but continued on much to Ichigo's annoyance.<p>

Lupin avoided Ichigo's eyes, as if knowing that the transfer's eyes were fixed on him. He could feel the weight of the young man's gaze, cold and calculating, as if he was trying to make sure of something. When he turned and made eyes contact with the orangette, he was slightly disturbed at the knowledge they held. There was a strange smugness in the transfer's gaze, one that did not bode well for him. He vaguely remembered what had happened last week during the full moon, though it was cloudy. He remembered yellow eyes and an unfamiliar spell that brought suffocating pain and feeling frightened of the boy, although his werewolf rarely feared anything, much less a third year student.

When Lupin was collecting the homework assignments from last class he blanched, looking down at Ichigo Kurosaki's assignment. It was completed perfectly, as usual, but it was the words scrawled across the top of the paper that had him unsteady, '_I know what you are, do be careful on your future trips to the Forest will you? Wouldn't want you attacking a student now would we?'_ He looked up and caught the eyes of the transfer, shuddering at the sadistic smile on his student's face. Then it was gone, replaced with a bright smile that was so fake it was scary. And then he was gone, leaving the classroom with long, ground-devouring strides without a second glance, face completely blank once more. Lupin half leaned, half fell against his desk once the last student left the room, trying to get control of himself, noticing that he had begun shaking. He sighed once he managed to stop the tremors, raking a hand through messy brown hair, and looked down at the faultless paper with a sense of foreboding, what was he to do with this student?

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><p>The next few weeks until the beginning of the next term were relatively quiet; Ichigo did his work and spent any time not busy with homework or training in the library, reading up on any books that caught his eye. He wasn't very impressed with the selection of curses, wanting some more drastic spells that could <em>really<em> do some damage. He shrugged and took out his journal, taking notes on what kind of spells he thought would be useful that did not already exist. He would work on his own, always; leaving the area or simply stop working if others came near him while he was working on his spells. Luckily most students went home for the holiday but there were a few who were very curious about him, which he didn't appreciate. He did not care for the other students, they were loud and treated magic like some sort of game, then complained when it wasn't as easy as they wanted it to be. Even the assignments weren't that hard, it was nothing compared to his high school homework that he had had to somehow complete even while performing his shinigami duties. He excelled now that he was no longer in high school or a shinigami, fully intending to jump several grades during the summer.

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><p>Ichigo found it much easier on himself if he didn't engage in anything to do with the more well known people in his classes. He wasn't going near Malfoy to begin with, unless he was going to forcibly readjust the kid's face, but he found those around Harry Potter gained just as much attention. The bushy haired girl, Hermione, was infuriatingly annoying, she would always ask dozens of questions without giving her poor victim a chance to respond, and then get mad at them for not answering. He would immediately turn and take a different route to wherever he was going if he saw her coming his way with that look in her eyes. Weasley, the youngest boy anyway, was annoying on the best of days. Ichigo didn't even talk to him and the boy pissed him off. He was insufferable, he had no idea how he was Potter's best friend. He was loud, rude, completely thick, and most of all, he <em>always <em>had to give his opinion about absolutely _everything_ no matter how stupid, oblivious, and biased it was! The Neville kid was just sort of sad really, he was rather weak willed and frightened insanely easily, like how he was afraid of Snape! Not that Snape was nice about it, Snape wasn't nice about anything, he took advantage of it and didn't pass down a chance to harass the poor boy. Ichigo actually felt sorry for him and was a bit sad that the boy wasn't likely to survive this battle against that Voldemort guy everyone seemed terrified of if he didn't man up and stop jumping at shadows.

So yeah, Ichigo didn't converse much, and preferred it that way. He would speak to some of his classmates if he had to, mostly the kids in the higher grades so they'd give him ideas of what they learned so he could get a head start, but not many. Most of the student body were afraid of him, not that he cared. If they were afraid of him, they'd leave him alone, which was much appreciated. He was at Hogwarts to learn, not to play friends.

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><p>It was the first week of February when Ichigo did something that made the students truly afraid of him. he had been having a nice run around the grounds when he saw Malfoy, his goons, and the Golden Trio as Harry, Hermione, and Ron were apparently called. His eyes narrowed slightly as he got close enough to hear what was being said. The mention of Buckbeak had his eyes narrowed further under a furrowed brow. He could finally hear everything that was being said and his eyes flashed gold. Malfoy and his 'friends' were taunting the Griffindor trio about Malfoy's father apparently sentencing the hippogriff to death.<p>

Ichgo stalked up to them, still unseen by any of the two bickering groups, and snarled, the sound rough and primal and full of rage. Both groups spun around to face him, fear on all of their faces as they turned to what must have been some vicious creature. Imagine their surprise when all they saw was the transfer student, who was looking pretty vicious at the moment with his scowl and burning gold eyes.

"W-w-what do you want Kurosaki?" Malfoy demanded, his bravado diminished by the tremor in his voice.

Ichigo scowled deeper, his beastial golden eyes fixed on the blond, who swallowed. "My problem," the students flinched at how low and hoarse his voice was, practically a growl, "is that you went and did what I specifically warned you not to do. You blamed your incompetence on an _animal_ that simply was startled into injuring you and now what are you doing? Killing an animal because you embarrassed yourself. Because you were too pathetic to admit that it was your own stupid fault that you got injured."

Malfoy bristled, having decided that he wasn't going to tolerate a foreigner mouthing off to him. He gestured to his henchmen, his face red with anger and embarrassment.

Ichigo did not flinch when the first boy slammed a fist into his jaw. He didn't even move. The boy who punched him however, cried out in pain, holding his curled hand in the other. The other boy hesitated, but clearly did not know better than to drive his fist into Ichigo's stomach. This time Ichigo bent with the hit, only because he was lessening the impact, but the stupid boy thought he actually hurt him. His confident smirk vanished when Ichigo lifted his head, a leer on his face, right before the orange haired transfer smashed his head into the shorter boy's. The boy's legs gave out and he collapsed, out cold. Ichigo didn't hesitate, immediately lunging forward and giving Malfoy a right uppercut that would make a boxer jealous. The cocky blond's eyes rolled up in his head and crumpled to the ground. And then there was one, Ichigo turned to the boy and took one, long step towards him.

The remaining boy stared between him and the two prone figures on the ground with terror painted all over his face. He almost passed out with relief when the transfer looked at him, disgust written across his sharp features and growled, "Take them to the infirmary. You're lucky I'm in a good mood or you'd be joining them for a month. Tell Malfoy the next time he blames another for his shortcomings, he's got a lot worse coming than what I gave him today." The boy nodded so hard he would have neck pains for days after, only moving to obey the taller when he snarled, "Well? Get moving!" He got, managing to half carry half drag the two unconscious boys away as fast as he could, all too willing to get away from the transfer who fought like a demon.

Ichigo stopped to watch the boy strain under the combined weight of his friends for a moment before he turned cold eyes on the Golden Trio. Their expressions ranged between appalled, shocked, amazed, and just plain surprised, some of them more than one at a time. He snorted once and left, not caring in the slightest about what they thought of his actions. He had almost made it out of earshot when he heard Weasley (of course it was him) shout, "That was wicked!" Ichigo just groaned. How much longer until this year was over?

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><p>School was loud for the next few days, his fighting skills getting around to all of the students in a few hours (Ichigo knew they didn't have anything better to do, which was kind of sad really), and now more students were afraid of him. At the same time there were students who now looked up to him for taking down Malfoy, since not many had the guts or the courage, much less the strength, to do so. Both Snape and Dumbledore had approached him about it, but since Malfoy and the other boys refused to say what caused it, all they could do was give him a warning not to do it again. Not that a warning would stop him from whaling on someone who deserved it, but it made the teachers feel better apparently.<p>

Ichigo had enjoyed the fact that Malfoy would flee from him if he could, avoiding his gaze if they had to be near each other, and not going near him unless it was absolutely necessary. The few jeers that a few students had made about the "Weasley haired foreigner" came to a dead halt, since they likely now feared for their well being now that he'd shown Malfoy's goons could stand up to him.

Ichigo tried to ignore it; he avoided the extra attention as much as possible. He wore his hoods again, not liking the attention, and holed up in the library in an attempt to make the year go by faster.

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><p>Ichigo avoided others like the plague for the next few months, making it to April, finally. He heard Hermione took a page from his book and hit the annoying blond Slytherin herself, which made him chuckle for a bit when he found out, overhearing it from the many gossipers of the school. He didn't bother going to the last Quidditch game of the year and didn't care that his house lost, he just tried to block out the complaining and insulting his housemates did afterwards. He once again tried to ignore his classmates, using one of his own spells on himself to block out the noise and taking silent pride that he had added two more spells to his growing list. He was sure he'd have a dozen by the end of next year, all he had to do was survive that long and with the drama that already happened this year, that was going to be a sizeable feat. All he had to do was ignore his classmates and anyone else who was being loud and therefore annoying, pass all his classes, and possibly not get into anymore fights and he'd be good for the year, then he could spend the next year studying on his own and get some real work done, he was going to jump as many grades as possible and learn as much as he could, he was finally getting somewhere.<p>

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><p>So yay, its done. I had fun writing Ichigo take down Malfoy. I really don't like the kid. He's a prat.<p>

Review please?

I'm going to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Update! Yay for you all. And an actual update, not those petitions that everyone keeps putting up which, while I agree have a purpose, are deceptive and frustrating for those of us who think a story we like has been updated, is denied by a petition. Just saying, those are some nasty bait-and-switches. I WILL be putting up a petition of my own, but it will be PART of this chapter that I will add at the end. So you will GET your chapter, and I can acknowledge what everyone is saying about the management apparently taking down stories because of lemons or violence, both of which I LOVE. I NEED my lemons and violence is always appreciated if done the right way. I actually have 1 lemony story and will NOT be pleased if it is removed.**

**But anywho... New chappy. Good for you. Explain a few things. Ichi gets a friend. And goes home. And gets to do the whole explanation with his family, which was awkward to write but I made do. Hope it's not terrible but I never know.  
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**Thank you for everyone who reviewed, I adore you all, especially those who gave ideas or suggestions which help me write when I get stuck. Unfortunately I have been stuck for quite some time but it's annoying me so I will try to fix that.  
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**I do NOT own Bleach or Harry Potter. Seriously people, if I did I wouldn't be a college student limited to driving her family's minivan cuz I don't know how to drive stick. (I'm learning though! Just not there yet). AKA I OWN NOTHING! Only my deranged mind. Which is failing me currently cuz I got no ideas for my other fics.  
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><p>Dumbledore stared at the unusual transfer student seated in front of him, completely at a loss as to what to think of him now. "You want to what?"<p>

Ichigo Kurosaki stared right back at him, slight annoyance on his otherwise blank face, "I want to study from home next school year. I think I could get a lot more studying done if I do it on my own. Being here is really distracting and I've proven that I can work perfectly well on my own without supervision."

"But how will you receive help if you are halfway across the earth?" Dumbledore knew his argument was rather weak, the boy was too smart for anyone's good, especially his own.

The orange haired transfer scoffed, "I can send my owl if I have questions or I can just apparate to Hogsmeade if I'm really having that much trouble."

Dumbledore regretted allowing the student to learn apparition. He couldn't argue against the teen's point, he _was_ sixteen, the age required to learn apparition. He just knew that was going to come back and cause problems for him. Now he was out of legitimate excuses to keep the boy on Hogwarts grounds so he could keep an eye on him. He still had one thing up his sleeve, "You will need to receive permission from your father of course. I cannot allow you to study at home if your guardian does not approve."

Narrowed eyes was his only response and a sharp nod. "Alright then, I will you see you at dinner Headmaster. Have a good day." With that he stood and left the office while Dumbledore stared after him, slightly worried by how confident he sounded.

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><p>Dinner the next night was an uneventful affair, unless you counted the whispers of Sirius Black's sudden disappearance as uneventful. The loud chatters of young voices were suddenly silenced by the high pitched shriek of an owl, just to break out into whispers once the students caught sight of perhaps the largest owl they had ever seen bearing down on the Slytherin table.<p>

The huge bird back-winged once it reached the far end of the table to land on the outstretched hand of the tall hooded figure that was Ichigo Kurosaki. The boy had not looked up when the bird approached him but turned dark brown eyes on the massive creature once it settled on his bare hand. He untied the letter fastened to its taloned feet, ignoring the stares of the entire room fixed on him.

The bird was a huge creature, easily twice the size of most of the owls used by the students and even larger than the largest bird that belonged to Malfoy, an Eagle owl. The bird was easily two feet tall and had a wingspan of over six feet. It was pale brown with many streaks of white and black on its back and a paler underside with a white throat. Its ragged ear tufts swiveled about while its large yellow eyes were fixed on its master who had finished untying the letter. He looked at the owl seated comfortably on his hand for a moment before he threw his arm skyward, launching the massive bird into the air where it then exited the Great Hall.

The hall was silent a moment longer, until Ichigo stood and walked up to the Head Table where he stopped in front of Dumbledore. He placed the opened letter in front of the ancient Headmaster with a smug little smirk and pivoted on his heel, striding out of the Great Hall without a glance to anyone else.

The second he was out of sight the room erupted into whispers while the students glanced between the doorway and Dumbledore. The other professors looked on with barely restrained interest while Dumbledore read over the letter. They were even more curious when the Headmaster's shoulders slumped in a resigned sigh and he set the letter down.

McGonagall was the first to lose control, trying to sound worried, though the pure curiousity in her voice gave her away, "What is it Albus? Is there a problem? Has Kurosaki done something?"

He waved one hand at her and passed the letter to Snape while he reassured her, "No, nothing is wrong Minerva. Mr. Kurosaki has simply been allowed by his father to study at his own home this next school year."

McGonagall had apparently not heard of the transfer's request because she looked confused, "Why would he wish to study at home? Surely he can do much better at Hogwarts where he has access to professors?"

"He has proven that he can study sufficiently on his own as he did catch up on two years of classes in a few weeks. He believes that he will be able to focus better in the comfort of his own home and has promised to return the year after next."

"But what if he has troubles with his studies? Or is unfamiliar with a concept in the work?" She seemed very concerned about her student's competence despite the fact that he was one of the best students in every one of his classes.

"He has assured me that he will come to school if he ever needs assistance. He does know how to apparate competently, as he was successful on his fourth attempt and surely can manage to travel on his own should the need arise. He will also most likely be visiting school for a few days during the OWLs since he believes he will take them next year."

"OWLs? He thinks he will complete two whole years of work in one year? _And _take the OWLs?" She was rightly skeptical; OWL year alone was stressful for most students, much less completing a whole other year's work at the same time.

Dumbledore sighed; he was at a loss as to what the teenager was thinking as well. "I know, but the boy seems to think he can do it. We shall just have to wait and see."

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><p>Ichigo was in the courtyard with his owl when the airy voice caught his attention, "Oh my, that is a large owl isn't it?"<p>

He turned and was face to face with a girl a few years younger than him with long wavy pale blond hair and light blue eyes. The blue eagle crest on her robes made her a Ravenclaw but Ichigo was pretty sure he hadn't seen her before, he was sure he would have recognized her hair and slightly unfocused eyes.

"Can I pet it?" the airy voice brought his attention back to her last statement.

"Uhh, sure. If she'll let you anyway." He wasn't all that sure as to how his owl would take to being handled by anyone other than him. The huge avid seemed to dislike most students, especially the loud ones, just like her owner.

The blond reached towards the bird a bit before leaving her hand a few inches from the bird's beak, letting it settle before moving closer. Ichigo relaxed his muscles, knowing his bird was sensitive to his body language and tended to react based on them. It worked and the pale girls stroked the bird's head with a small smile.

"She's lovely, does she have a name?" The girl breathed a giggle when the great bird nibbled gently on her finger.

"Tsuki."

"Tsuki…" The girl said it carefully, managing to pronounce the foreign word correctly, which Ichigo secretly appreciated, he hated it when people tried to speak his language and just succeeded in mangling it. "What does it mean?"

"Moon."

The girl giggled and drew her hand back to clasp them behind her back and lean back into them, "Like me, my name's Luna. Luna Lovegood. Though some people call me Looney Lovegood because I'm Looooney." She warbled the last word and then smiled softly, as if it didn't bother her.

Ichigo scowled, "Well that sure is rude. You have a nice name; people should have the good manners to use it. Though since it's these English I'm not that surprised." He snorted and fixed her with a firm look, "Don't let people call you that if you don't like it. Set them straight."

Luna shook her head, "It's alright, it doesn't bother me. I think the nargles are messing with their heads, they can't help it. It's what happens to those who are different."

Ichigo's brows just furrowed deeper, though he was a tad confused about the 'nargle' comment but just ignored it as unimportant, "You don't have to take it though. They shouldn't be able to treat others badly just because they're different. I'll set them straight if you want."

She shook her head, a bright smile on her face, "No but thank you for the offer. You are very kind, very different from what all the others say about you."

"You know who I am?" He wasn't completely surprised but wasn't going to assume he was _that_ well known.

"You're Ichigo Kurosaki, the Slytherin who beat up Malfoy and his guys for having BuckBeak put down. _They_ all say you're very cold and mean and don't care for anyone but yourself. I think that's wrong, would someone who didn't care for others get mad for the sake of an animal? No, you are just quiet, personal. Nothing wrong with that." She gave him another smile where her pale eyes sparkled as she stood and brushed off her robes, "I must be going, I need to find my things. I suspect nargles are behind it but I do need them back. We leave in a few days, see you again Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo stared after her as she made her way towards the castle, seeming to drift through the crowds of students. She was interesting, the first person he had met who was actually sufferable to be around. He thought he could actually talk to her and get an unbiased opinion back. Yes, he would talk to this Luna Lovegood again. He smirked a bit to himself before carefully wiping his face of emotion and standing to take a walk in the Forbidden Forest, his loyal Tsuki flying above him.

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><p>"Tadaima," was the low murmur as Ichigo opened the door to his family home, his luggage behind him with Tsuki's cage sitting on top of the trunk.<p>

"WELCOME HOME IIIIIICHIGOOOOO!"

He ducked instinctively and locked the door behind him, ignoring his father's pleas for his son to let him in. "I'm home, Karin, Yuzu." He greeted his sisters as he made his way upstairs to his room to unpack.

The twins exchanged looks when their older brother disappeared upstairs. He was even quieter than before he left last summer. Before he left he would at least attempt to make conversation, however small, but now he clearly didn't care to do even that much. They were worried about their brother, worried that going to that magic school is changing him.

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><p>They didn't see him until dinner, his door firmly locked and even Isshin couldn't hear what he was doing when he used a glass up against the door. No noise escaped the eldest Kurosaki sibling's room and his family was starting to worry as it had been several hours since he had come home.<p>

Yuzu knocked hesitantly before loudly saying, "Dinner is ready Ichi-nii!" to make sure he could hear her. It was almost a full minute before the door swung open, giving Yuzu her first look inside.

There were thick books scattered across the wooden floor and piles of thick paper on his desk along with bottles of ink and a few large feathers with pointed ends. There were odd looking instruments sitting by his desk such as a metal pot, scales with weights, and many jars of creepy looking things. His room had been repainted to be a dark green color and even the furniture looked like it had been stained since all of the wood was now a dark brown. His bed had been shifted to line most of the wall the headboard had previously touched, leaving a few feet of space around the window instead of his bed lying in front of it. A small table sat next to the wall on the opposite side of his bed and a metal cage sat on it, a huge vicious looking owl inside, looking perfectly comfortable.

Yuzu withdrew a bit at the sight of the owl, especially when it swiveled its head around to look at her with huge yellow eyes. It screeched at her before Ichigo turned to it and made a _tsk_ sound at it, then guided Yuzu away from his doorway and closed the door behind him.

She stared at him with wide eyes, not sure what to make of what she had seen. Ichigo rarely changed his room at all, much less had such strange things and a _bird_. Ichigo had never had a pet, had never shown any interest in caring for animals, but here he is, home from a year at some foreign boarding school, and he brings back an _owl_ of all things. _No one_ had pet owls, it just wasn't normal. She knew full well her brother wasn't normal, even before she knew he had been a shinigami he hadn't been normal, but this was taking it to a whole new level. She still wasn't sure why her brother went to a different school, and had only been told that he decided to go because he had some special power that came from their mother, but only he had it. Her father had not elaborated on the matter at all, just saying that it was some power that was hereditary that Ichigo had from their mother's parent's side, but only he of the three of them had it. Their father told them the day Ichigo left for this school that it was so he could learn about this power and be able to use it and that he would be going to school for it for several years.

"You said it was dinner time Yuzu, what are you doing?" Her brother's deep voice interrupted her inner musings and she looked up at him. His eyes were guarded, cold, and his face was blank as what she had come to consider normal for him. The only way to read any sort of emotion on him was by looking at his eyes, and even that didn't always work.

"H-hai…" she remembered what she was up here for and turned to return to the dining room so that they could eat, she barely heard her brother following her down the stairs.

Dinner was a tense affair, with the only noise being the sounds of utensils hitting the plates and of eating. No one was sure how to deal with Ichigo, since he seemed even more withdrawn than before, and Yuzu was especially uncomfortable since she had seen his room.

"Did you want to ask something Yuzu?" Ichigo's deep voice startled her, interrupting the silence, and she took a few seconds before she processed his question.

"A-ah. Um…. S-so you got a pet at school? Do they allow pets in your dorms?" She could feel her brother's hard eyes on her and she knew her father and Karin were looking at them confused.

Her brother actually scoffed, "It was one of the requirements. I _had_ to get a cat, a toad, or an owl. Picked the owl because they can actually be used to send mail and are a lot more efficient than post, since they will find the receiver no matter where they are. Tsuki's pretty fast too, she can travel farther than smaller breeds, she's real smart too."

They stared at him for a moment, not sure whether to believe him or not, but his expression didn't change. He didn't _look_ like he was lying; he seemed completely at ease with the idea of people having owls for pets.

"What kind of school needs kids to have frogs and birds as pets? And using birds for sending mail? What the heck?" Karin mumbled with disbelief heavy in her voice.

Ichigo just looked at her for a moment before going back to eating, only pausing to answer, "A magic one. And it's _toads_, not frogs. There is a difference, though I don't know why any kid would want a cold blooded animal over a cat or an owl, they at least are _somewhat_ affectionate. Don't see any appeal in a toad, but who knows…"

Yuzu stopped listening after his first sentence, her mind stuck on the comment about what sort of school he now attended, "What kind of school Ichi-nii?"

He glanced at her but didn't look bothered by her question, "A magic one. They teach students the information and skills needed to become wizards and witches if they have the gift."

"For real?" Karin still didn't buy any of what her brother was saying but she was curious about how quiet their father was being.

"Yes Karin. I am a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I studied over the summer and joined the third year class."

Karin startled when she saw their father nodding his head silently, looking serious for once. "You knew about this?" She demanded of him.

Ichigo answered for him, "Yes, he's the one who contacted the school's Headmaster. Apparently Mom's parents were from an established Wizarding family but she didn't have the talent for it, she's what the Wizarding community would call a squib, which is a nonmagical person born to magical parents. She told Dad about the Wizarding world in case the gift skipped a generation. There's supposedly some sort of system to send out acceptance letters to children with the magic gift when they're eleven but for some reason they couldn't find me, so I didn't attend until Dad got in contact with Dumbledore. He knows about me now so if you guys were to get your letters it would have happened the summer I left, but you didn't so you're most likely muggles, nonmagic folk." He finished, answering the unasked questions about the unfamiliar terms.

The girls just stared at him, still not believing their brother was part of some sort of weird secret community now. _First the shinigami, and now this, _was the thought that ran through both of their heads, and their father didn't seem to care!

"So what.." Karin sneered, still not sure this was some sort of joke, though it would explain the even more withdrawn personality of her brother, "You can do magic tricks now? Pull rabbits out of hats?"

Ichigo didn't even look at her, he just let out a small sigh, "No, I don't do magic _tricks_. I do magic. I can't pull a rabbit out of a hat, but I will be able to turn a hat _into_ a rabbit once I learn more. I can make potions that do certain things, like heal ailments or knock people unconscious, or make people tell only the truth. I know magic used for fighting and for everyday things. For example," he pulled out a slender stick colored black and red, and muttered, "_Wingardium Leviosa_," while pointing at a vase sitting in the center of the table. He gestured upwards with the stick and the vase rose into the air several feet off the tabletop, until he gestured back down and it lowered to sit in the same spot it had rested before.

Ichigo set the slender stick on the table in front of him silently and his sisters stared at it in shock. They were still skeptical about this whole 'magic' business but they couldn't deny that their brother had just made a vase move without touching it, and without any apparent effort. "W-what is it?" Yuzu stuttered, not sure what to think of the innocent looking piece of wood, other than think that is was pretty, if slightly dark looking.

"It's my wand. All wizards and witches have them. Eventually I will be able to cast spells without using it, but for now I need it since it focuses my power and makes it easier to cast spells and such. Wands are made using certain types of wood with magical properties and have a core that comes from part of a magical animal, like unicorns or phoenixes or dragons."

All three other members of his family gulped at the last creature, "You mean they exist?" Ichigo looked at Karin with a blank look, "Unicorns and phoenixes and… dragons."

He just nodded, "Yeah, though phoenixes are rare and all three animals are dangerous to get ingredients from. They actually have to kill a dragon to get the core ingredient, cores from unicorns and phoenixes are taken from live animals."

"They have to kill it?" Yuzu was saddened at the thought that people would kill an animal for a wand.

Ichigo ignored his sister's sad tone, knowing it was a fact of life, "Yeah, that's the kind of core my wand has, a dragon heartstring. Dragons are incredibly dangerous, there would be no way to get _any_ sort of ingredient from a dragon without killing it before hand, otherwise it would kill you. They're very vicious and don't care if you're trying to help it or hurt it, they think of all humans as the enemy." He picked up his wand and stood once he finished his explanation, having finished his dinner, and left to return to his room to continue his studies, leaving his family to stare after him.

Yuzu turned to their father, "is that right? Do they really have to kill it?"

He sighed, "Masaki told me about dragons, they have to be kept in reservations so they don't come into contact with muggles, because some breeds like to eat humans. They can't be domesticated and their numbers have to be controlled so muggles don't notice them, the dragons killed to control the populations are usually where the dragon products come from." He summed up what he remembered from the rare conversations he had had with his wife about the topic, which had only happened because he had been curious about the fact that dragons were real and had wanted to know more about them. Masaki had complied, if a bit hesitant to explain, and he knew why after she was done, it was a sad topic.

"S-so is Ichi-nii going to be studying until next school year? Does he have that much homework over the summer?" Yuzu changed the topic, not wanting the mood to get any more tense than it already was.

"No, Ichigo got permission to study from home this next school year, though he'll be going back the year after that."

"What? Why would Ichi-nii study at home for only a year? Isn't his school a boarding school?" Karin didn't understand why her brother would spend the next year at home right after he had studied abroad, just to go back after this year.

"He wants to study and skip grades. He's set up to enter the fourth year this fall, but all those in his year are much younger than him, he's already as old as the sixth years. He wants to enter the sixth year after a year of studying at home, so he'll skip two years by studying for one year on his own. By the time he's in his final year, year seven, he'll be two years older than his classmates." Isshin ate quietly, still not sure if it was wise to allow his son to isolate himself from his classmates, but it was what Ichigo wanted, and if Ichigo thought he'd be more comfortable skipping grades to be in classes with others closer to his age, Isshin wasn't going to stop him.

"Oh…"

"So Ichi-nii will be home all year? And next summer too?" Yuzu seemed more positive about their brother being home, liking that he would actually be around for once.

"Yes, but he's most likely going to spend a lot of time studying. He's very serious about his new education and will have exams towards the end of the school year if he succeeds in catching up, where he will have to go to school for a few days for testing. Ichigo seems confident that he will catch up so we will just have to do our best to help him when he needs it." Isshin informed, not sure if they'd be any help if Ichigo _did_ need any help.

"Ichi-nii is smart, if he sets his mind to it, he'll surely catch up. He'll probably cause problems for his teachers though," Karin snickered, "just like always."

Isshin sighed but knew his rougher daughter had a point, but then he remembered, "In the letter from the Headmaster, he said Ichigo is one of the top students in every one of his classes, and he rarely talks at all, much less cause problems. Though he did apparently beat up a few of the students in his class…"

"Like I said," Karin smirked with a glance at the stairs, "Just like always. Ichi-nii hasn't changed _that_ much. Even with a new power, he's still his strong self."

* * *

><p><strong>Soooo... Like? No like? Hope you liked it, I was really just trying to get through this part. It was difficult, though the part with Luna was fun. Someone suggested making her friends with Ichi and I agree, but she's kind of hard to write, she's such a <em>different<em> character. Oh well, I got through it.**

**Those of you who are sad by the fact that Ichigo will not be at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, he still has to take his OWLs remember? He will be popping in every now and then. I think I'm gonna make Dumbledore force him to attend the welcoming of the new students but if any of you guys want any particular interactions to happen between him and the visitors, just speak up. I am always open to suggestions. I love them, I really do. I will tolerate flames, if they are justified, but they sometimes hurt my feelings and make me depressed, and put me off writing for a period of time, which means no updates, so I'd rather not get them, but if there is a serious problem I will attempt to fix it, or at least explain why I wrote something a certain way. I do have a method to my madness, I do. I have a reason for doing things the way I do.  
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**Anywho... Oh yeah, I was gonna put up that petition wasn't I? OK. Here ya go. Hope you are all in agreement with it, cuz I sure as hell am.  
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><p>Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.<p>

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Ha ha ha! New chapter! I think I'm finally through this stupid case of writer's block! Took long enough!**

**So the majority of this chapter is the annoying-but-necessary filler-ish chapter where I have to eat up time before a part I want to write while taking care of some necessary explanations to his friends. It was very irritating to write but I got through it. Took too long... Such a pain...  
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**Oh well, you all get a new chapter and I get to write about more interesting things continuing on from this chapter! To tell you the truth, I think I'm just gonna skim through this book/movie and just touch on the more important events, I REALLY want to write during the fifth book, gonna make Ichi teach Umbridge a thing or two. Sorry if you don't like this but if you review with a request for a specific event to happen or a particular interaction between characters I might make it happen. I got nothin so far so any help would be appreciated.  
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**Disclaimer: What do you think? I own NOTHING. Just my irritating distracted brain and hands that seem to want to have spazz attacks whenever I try to type.  
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><p>"Did you know Ichigo's back?"<p>

The group of teenagers stared at the speaker, Chad. Ichigo's friends had kept together when their former leader had left the country suddenly without an explanation of any kind. They tried to find some way to keep in contact with him, but since they had no idea where he even was it was hard. The fact that Ichigo had been steadily distancing himself from everyone didn't help them at all. But they still wanted to think that their fiery haired leader was still the same person, or still very similar to how he had been when he was still in possession of his powers.

They knew full well it had been a heavy blow to Ichigo to lose his powers. The fact that he had been so powerful had only made it harder on him. they tried to make it easier on him, but the fact that Chad, Ishida, and Orihime would leave to fight hollows only acted as a painful reminder.

The day he lost his powers completely had started a shift in Ichigo. The day he lost his sight was the day he changed. His personality was different starting in subtle ways, but then it was more obvious. First it was his expression, no longer the scowl that had resided on his face for the last few years, now it was a look of disinterest, something he had rarely ever shown. Then it was his temperament, he was colder, more reserved, would watch people closer, as if he was assessing them. He was less temperamental than before, would just look at whoever was trying to rile him up with a look of smug pity, but then would erupt into an even more violent temper than he had ever shown, and someone would have to drag him off whoever he was whaling into before he killed them. He didn't smile anymore, he smirked. Any sort of laughter was limited to an almost silent chuckle, a snicker, or a high pitched cackle that made your hair stand on end.

The changes in their friend were discouraging, almost as if they were trying to befriend a whole new person. His physical changes were even more subtle, his skin paled from the lack of exercise outside, his eyes, previously chocolate brown, now dark brown with gold flecks, he was thinner from the lack of fighting but still muscular but leaner, as if he wasn't eating well.

They were worried about their friend, worried that he would be uneasy alone in a foreign country surrounded by strangers. They hadn't seen him since school let out last June; it was August, over a year since they had last talked to their friend.

"Seriously?" Keigo was the first to blurt out, missing his friend and being far more obvious than the others. He would admit that Ichigo did scare him a bit now, but he was still a friend, and he was sure Ichigo was still a good person even if he was even more intimidating than before.

Chad just nodded, he had crossed roads with Karin and she told him her brother was home before she started complaining about him being holed up in his room the whole time. He told his friends as much.

"We should go see him!" Orihime put in enthusiastically, more energized by the thought of seeing her friend again. Tatsuki just nodded from her spot beside her best friend, she was going to give Ichigo a piece of her mind from being out of touch for so long.

"Yes, I am curious as to where he has been all this time…" Ishida added, failing to hide the mixed anger and curiosity in his voice, it was eating him alive not knowing where the flame haired boy had been, he couldn't have gotten some educational study program since Ishida had much better grades so he was dying to find out what the circumstances were for Ichigo's school change.

They all agreed to drop in and visit him and made straight for his house.

His sister Yuzu opened the door for them, a small smile on her face at seeing them, "Ah, hello. Ichi-nii is studying in his room if you'd like to see him. Be sure to knock so he knows you're there before you try and enter. I'm not sure if he's locked the door again, Dad was bothering him earlier so it might still be closed."

They nodded at her instructions, though were a bit confused at the content. Since when did Ichigo lock his door? Or care if people knocked for that matter? Why did they need to make sure he knew they were there? And what the heck was he doing studying when it was only August?

They knocked loudly on the door painted with a dark green 15 and waited. There was no sound from the other side of the door but the lock suddenly clicked and the door swung open smoothly.

They were expecting to see their friend right inside the door and so were shocked when he was seated at his desk, facing them from across the room.

"How…. Did you open the door from over there?" Keigo murmured, speaking what they were all thinking.

One corner of Ichigo's mouth twitched upwards, but his face remained otherwise blank, "That is for me to know and you to find out."

He seemed very amused when they stared at him for a moment before turning their gazes on his room. They thought they heard him chuckle when Keigo looked at the jars by his desk with a frightened look. His room was so much different than the last time they had been in it. They were surprised that it had changed so much, since Ichigo wasn't one to care too much about his surroundings, but the room was restyled and the furniture adjusted so that there was more open space. The room was neat and clean, save for the tall stacks of old looking books placed in a group by his desk.

They didn't notice the owl until it shrieked at them, startling Keigo into jumping back and almost falling. They stared at the bird, marveling at how large it was, before they thought to ask what their leader was doing with an owl in his room.

"What the heck is that?" Keigo squawked next to Chad, whose shirt he had grabbed in order not to fall, the large teen just stared at the bird, mentally comparing it to the bird a young boy's soul had resided in, and deciding he liked the parakeet better, this bird looked too vicious. As if it knew what he was thinking the caged bird swiveled its head towards him and shrieked again, making the visitors wince.

"A bird," was Ichigo's bored answer, which just made Keigo flush as he realized how stupid his question was.

"I know that! What is it doing in your room?"

Ichigo turned to the bird and almost looked like he was confused, as if he had no idea why it was there either, "She's my pet. Her name is Tsuki."

They startled at his answer while their eyes softened at the name of the bird. He obviously had needed a reminder of his previous power because the bird did not resemble the moon at all, being light and dark brown, though it did have white and black streaks on its feathers.

"Where did you get an owl? And is it okay for you to have one as a pet?" Mizuiro questioned competently, he actually thought out his questions before speaking.

"England. And at the school I go to, I'm required to have one, for messages."

"Messages?"

"People in the community at school train them to deliver letters. They're basically the postal service in England. Tsuki's very smart and could even make it all the way here when I needed to send a letter to Oyaji." He gazed at his bird with calm eyes, just for the bird to swivel its head back to face him, making his eyes soften.

"What kind is it?" Orihime randomly chirps, making some of the others look at her strangely.

"A Blakiston's Fish Owl. One of, if not _the_, largest breed of owls," He answers without even looking away from the bird. He made a subtle movement with the hand resting on his lap and the cage door swung open silently.

The others retreated back a bit as the bird hopped out of the cage and flew the short distance to the desk, where Ichigo began absently running his fingers through its feathers, making it coo softly. Then they realized that the cage had opened by itself and looked closer at the metal cage, looking for some sort of mechanism that would open the cage without aid. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the cage, making them frown in confusion. Ichigo seemed to be ignoring them, or didn't notice their looks as he scratched at the base of Tsuki's head.

"So why are you guys here?"

They startled at the unexpected question, along with the guarded look in his eyes and cautious tone in his voice. They never thought he would question their visiting.

"We heard you were back and wanted to see you," Chad rumbled honestly.

Dark brown eyes weighed him before their bearer closed them and nodded, "Alright. Not that there's much to talk about, other than your graduation."

A few of the group flushed, having forgotten the fact that Ichigo had left the year he would have been a senior, but then they caught the fact that Ichigo had said 'your,' not 'our.' Even if he had changed schools, he still would have stayed in the same grade. Tatsuki brought this up, "What do you mean 'your?' You graduated too didn't you?"

"No. My new school is run differently. You don't graduate until you've proven that you have sufficient grasp of the knowledge. I transferred in later than others so I'm not set to graduate for a few more years."

"What kind of school does that? You should be in a senior class!" Ishida seemed to have the most problems with this, strangely enough.

The orange haired boy just shrugged, "A specialty school. I don't know as much as the others my age so I'm in classes with younger kids. They require different material than our school so it'll take me a bit longer to graduate."

Ishida did notice that Ichigo did not answer his question about what sort of school he did attend but was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that Ichigo was put in with younger students, "So you are in classes with those younger than you?"

"My school runs on a seven year program, I entered the third year last fall, with children around thirteen years old, so I am two years older than my classmates. I'm studying to skip grades and attend classes with students closer to my age and the Headmaster has given permission for me to do so as long as I complete the work."

"Headmaster?"

"Same thing as a principal."

"What's with all the weird things near your desk? And the huge books?"

"They are materials I need for my studies. Is that all? Because I'd like to get back to work, I was just about to finish an essay when you all stopped by." Ichigo rose an eyebrow at them with a cold expression on his face, which his friends didn't like, Ichigo never showed such unpleasantness towards people, especially those he cared about.

They couldn't say anything since they didn't have anything else to talk to him about and bid him a hesitant goodbye, the sound of a lock clicking following them down the stairs.

Yuzu met them as they made their way towards the door with a hesitant smile, "Sorry about Ichi-nii, he's been really busy studying. He says he needs to skip at least a year of school to do more interesting things. It's why he's studying from home this year."

"He's studying at home?" They hadn't heard anything about it.

Yuzu seemed surprised as well, "He didn't tell you? Well I suppose he just doesn't want to trouble you, or he wants it quieter so he can work. He keeps his door locked almost all the time, and Dad can't open it no matter how hard he kicks at it, you can't hear anything through the door either."

"Why would he be studying so hard just to jump grades?"

"Ichi-nii says it's to get away from annoyances and he wants to be in classes with more mature people. He says all his classmates are really childish," The small girl answered honestly, some disbelief in her voice.

The others were surprised; they knew Ichigo thought of some people as bothers, but to go to such an extent to avoid them? They guessed the childish behavior of his classmates was most likely them being biased and accusatory, not like the immature hyper behavior of Keigo and Ichigo's own father, since he tolerated them. But still, for people to act insufferably enough for Ichigo to avoid them it must be pretty bad.

"What sort of school does he go to? He didn't tell us."

Yuzu paled slightly before looking very uncomfortable, "H-he didn't tell you? I don't think it'd be alright for me to… Ichi-nii says that he's not allowed to tell people about it, he only told us because we're his family. You'll have to talk to Ichi-nii if you want to know but he's very busy now and he gets irritated when he's interrupted. Dad broke down Ichi-nii's door before he started locking it and he made him disappear for a while. I'm not sure what he did but he didn't show up for a few hours, and he was soaking wet and shaking when he came back. Dad won't tell us where he was and Ichi-nii only says 'a lesson' when we ask. He was smiling when he said it, I wonder why…"

The older teens gulped, the smiles Ichigo made nowadays didn't mean anything good. They actually felt sorry for the adult Kurosaki for once in their lives, who knows what Ichigo had done to his father. Making him disappear was a new one, the last time they had seen Ichigo smile, he had beaten the poor bastard who provoked him into the ground, and that was without his shinigami powers!

They came to the decision that they would leave their former leader alone, unless it had been too long since he left his house, then they were going to drag him out, no one should spend that much time indoors, studying or not. They would wait until Ichigo told them about his school, knowing that nothing was surer to make Ichigo clam up about a subject than to bother him about it.

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><p>"Where is Ichigo? I don't see him anywhere." Harry questioned as he took his seat across from Hermione on the first day of school. There wasn't any sign of the strange transfer anywhere and they just knew it wasn't a matter of overlooking him, that hair gave him right away and even if he was wearing a hood, there weren't any Slytherin's wearing hoods at the table.<p>

"Hmm, that is odd. I haven't seen him at all. I wonder where he is?" She immediately looked around the room, searching for the curious transfer student.

"Who cares where he is? Not like it matters where he's at, nasty bugger." Ron obviously didn't share his friends concern, considering he had a rather large distaste of the new student and wasn't likely to be pleasant with anything to do with him.

His two friends looked at him before Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione scoffed, they really didn't know what Ron's problem with the Japanese student was, it wasn't like he'd done anything to Ron. Ron would just spout the same thing he always did if they asked, that he was 'Slytherin and can't be trusted.' Sometimes Ron's prejudices were irritating, especially when they were unreasonable, Ichigo hadn't actually done anything mean to anyone unless they really deserved it. Heck, he even fought Malfoy! One of his own Housemates! They figured he'd eventually get over it but found themselves hoping it would happen soon.

They gave up their search for the boy once the first years were being sorted, figuring if he didn't show up before now he wasn't likely to show up at all. It wasn't until the meal was over and they were heading out till they paused, over hearing Professor Snape explain something to one of his students.

"Mr. Kurosaki will not be attending this year. He is currently studying at home in order to skip grades. He will be coming to school every now and then but do not wait up for him; his visits will be rather unannounced."

Snape's voice made it obvious how much he liked the idea of a student being able to pop in to school at any time, not one bit. His words were even slower and meticulous than usual, showing how hard he was trying to remain composed.

"Merlin, studying at home? Skipping grades? I didn't think that was even allowed." Harry whispered as he and his friends walked towards their dorm.

"It's not; at least I don't think it is. There's no record of anyone studying outside of school _or_ skipping grades." Hermione insisted, most likely from one of her many trips to the library.

"How the bloody hell is he able to just come to school whenever he wants? Probably some stupid pureblood privilege." Was all Ron apparently had to put in, expressed in a foul tempered mutter.

Harry shook his head; sure of something since he had seen it with his own eyes, "He took apparition lessons last year. He can just apparate to Hogsmeade and walk over. Must be nice…"

Hermione was quick to back him up, "Yes, apparently he succeeded on his fourth try. After that he could do it no problem. I hear he was one of the fastest learners the Professor has had in years, I wonder if I'll be able to do it as well…."

She wasn't so sure of herself, apparition took a lot of concentration and she had trouble with that. This was one thing just books weren't going to help her with. She still had two years before she was allowed to take the class but it still bothered her, this was one thing the transfer was surely better than her at. The transfer was almost impossible to unnerve, he stayed perfectly calm and controlled no matter the situation. She vaguely wondered how he could be so focused but passed it off as a part of his personality, not that she knew much about his personality since she had never talked to him.

Not for a lack of trying, but whenever she had caught sight of the older boy he would disappear in seconds as if he was avoiding her. He really didn't seem to like contact with anyone, seeming pleased with studying in the library or writing in several small journals. She highly doubted they were diaries but he was fiercely protective them, shutting them closed quickly if anyone came too close or even leaving the area if someone was becoming too interested in what he was doing. Hermione had been frustrated last school year all the times the boy avoided her, all she wanted to do was ask him about what he was doing, it interested her to see that extremely focused look on his face, all of his attention on the pages in front of him. He seemed very focused on making sure she didn't get so much as a peek at his books.

And now he wasn't even at school. She really wanted to know what he was doing at home, was he trying out things from different years? Or trying things that weren't even part of the curriculum? It was eating at her not knowing what he was up to; he was just too mysterious for her not to take an interest. She figured she would just need to find something else to occupy her until she could confront the older teen.

She had no idea that she would be able to do just that when Dumbledore announced that they would be holding the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. She was in shock for a bit, until the Weasley twins started talking about entering to win the prize money, that is, until the Headmaster told them about the age line. Hermione was a bit thankful for it, it wouldn't even be very safe for the sixth and seventh years, who knows what would happen if younger students participated? She doubted she would have entered even if there wasn't an age line, reckless leaps into danger were more Harry's thing, she just got dragged along for the ride. She had enough life-risking adventures just going to school normally; she didn't need the extra drama of being in a tournament.

The gossips of the school jumped into action during the month before the guest schools arrived, going on about who would enter the tournament and who would win. There was a fair amount of gossip about the other schools as well, but not as much, since no one knew much about them. Durmstrang especially, no one even knew where it was located other than it was somewhere north, possibly in Norway, and it was stricter than Hogwarts.

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><p>The day in the first week of October was the worst, all the students impatiently waiting for the Professor to release them so they could watch the other Wizarding schools arrive. Hermione gave up on trying to make Harry and Ron calm down and just finished writing her notes for the Potions assignment that was due next class. The Snape did what all the students had been waiting for since they walked in the classroom door that day, he dismissed them. Hermione stayed seated, not wanting to be caught up in the stampede towards the front doors, she would find Harry and Ron when she got out at her own pace.<p>

She easily found her friends once she walked through the barely inhabited hall, most all the students having gone outside in the initial rush. The two boys were standing near the front towards one side so they could see. Neither school had arrived yet but it didn't stop the students from chatting animatedly to their friends, about the tournament naturally.

They didn't have to wait long as Dumbledore announced that the schools were getting close, right before a student yelled out and pointed at a spot in the sky. It turned out to be a powder blue carriage the size of a house pulled by flying golden horses. The Headmistress, a giant of a woman, greeted Dumbledore as another shout broke out, this time a student point at the lake, which was now producing a strange squelching sound.

Students and staff alike turned to see the ship rising up out of the water, water running down the face of the skeleton figurehead, giving it a macabre look, as if it were weeping. Water continued to run off the ship as it approached shore.

Hermione was distracted by a soft murmur from Dumbledore, "Now all we are waiting for is Mr. Kurosaki… where is that boy? I told him to be here…."

She glanced around the area, searching the paths for the orange haired boy but there was no sign of him. She glanced up as she was turning back to the lake to watch the Durmstrang students arrive but stopped half-way, her eyes locked on a small dark figure approaching the crowd from the sky.

She stared at the figure while she heard the crowd whisper about something very exciting, she stopped listening once she found out it was Quidditch related, having no interest in the sport, and waited for the figure to get closer.

It wasn't until the figure was about a hundred feet away that she realized the person, for it was human shaped, wasn't using a broom. She feared it was a Dementor for a moment before realizing that the person did not wear tattered robes and had legs. She was stunned silent by the impossible fact that the person seemed to be walking through the air. _That isn't possible! There are no spells to make it possible! The closest thing to doing that is the Leviosa spell, but it isn't nearly strong enough to hold a person!_

Dumbledore's loud voice distracted her from her thoughts long enough to tear her eyes from the levitating figure to face her Headmaster, just to see he was looking at the same thing she was, "Ah, I see he's arrived. I was afraid that he wouldn't make it. I suppose the time difference may have caused an issue but he's here now." Despite his words the eldest Headmaster looked slightly amazed as he stared at the figure with faint disbelief.

Exclamations came from members of all three schools as the rest of the crowd spotted the person still approaching. The person didn't seem to notice the commotion they were causing simply by their presence, they just continued on towards the doors to the castle, only stopping when they were around ten feet in front of Dumbledore and as many feet straight up. A breeze rustled the person's robes, displaying the green lining and crest of Slytherin on the left breast, but did not dislodge the hood shadowing the person's face. The students began whispering this to their neighbors though most still did not realize the identity of the mystery Slytherin. It wasn't until Dumbledore shouted, "Would you come down please Mr. Kurosaki?" over the wind that the rest of the students understood.

The figure threw back his hood, revealing orange hair falling into dark brown eyes and reaching the tops of his shoulders. He raised the black and red wand held loosely in his right hand and flicked it upwards before putting it away in a hidden sheath in his sleeve. He dropped straight down the second the wand was raised, causing students and teachers to call out in warning, concerned that a fall so far would injure him. His expression did not change; it remained perfectly blank even as he bent his legs and landed smoothly, barely making a sound. He straightened and looked straight at Dumbledore, even as everyone else in the crowd was staring at him with their mouths hanging open, "So why did you want me to come to school today? I was busy."

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><p><strong>There. It's done. Now review. More than just a few words please. I do like when people just say they like it, but I would like a little more detail. And suggestions, suggestions are what encourage me. I need suggestions for what to put in the next chapter if I am to update soon. Unless you all want another month plus long period where I don't update at all? No? So update please. I need them.<strong>

**Kay, I'm done now. Time to bum around the site looking for things to read. Seeya.  
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	8. Chapter 8

**Yeah I finally updated. At long last. I know it's been forever since I've updated, or felt like it anyway, and I'm sorry about that. I've been in a bit of a slump lately but I think I might have some ideas for next chapter so I can continue this story.  
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**This chapter is a bit shorter than the others mainly because I had a couple pages written out in Word from a few weeks ago and just cut it off after I added a bit more to the chapter. I figured I can put up a shorter chapter since I haven't updated in a while. I think I'll start working on the next chapter today and hopefully have it up soon.  
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**Thanks for everyone who reviewed, there were so many I can't even keep track of them all but if you did I thank you.  
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**For those of you who are asking if Ichigo's going to get his shinigami powers back I have no plans for that to happen so far, though I am thinking of doing something with his hollow. I have a certain spell in mind that might trigger something.  
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**Got some reactions of the other schools in here, mainly Durmstrang, and Ichigo mainly being cool and mysterious and disliking being left in the dark. Usual stuff for this fic. And some cute Ichigo/Luna friendship bonding. And if you're wondering, NO it will NOT be Ichigo/Luna as anything more than friends. No romance in this story, sorry.  
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**Okay now that I got my apology/rant done with, disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Except the spells I make up. Those are all mine.  
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**Enjoy kiddies!(I know most of you aren't children but I can call you all what I want! It's my story! Hmf)  
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><p>Last chapter:<p>

_Exclamations came from members of all three schools as the rest of the crowd spotted the person still approaching. The person didn't seem to notice the commotion they were causing simply by their presence, they just continued on towards the doors to the castle, only stopping when they were around ten feet in front of Dumbledore and as many feet straight up. A breeze rustled the person's robes, displaying the green lining and crest of Slytherin on the left breast, but did not dislodge the hood shadowing the person's face. The students began whispering this to their neighbors though most still did not realize the identity of the mystery Slytherin. It wasn't until Dumbledore shouted, "Would you come down please Mr. Kurosaki?" over the wind that the rest of the students understood._

_The figure threw back his hood, revealing orange hair falling into dark brown eyes and reaching the tops of his shoulders. He raised the black and red wand held loosely in his right hand and flicked it upwards before putting it away in a hidden sheath in his sleeve. He dropped straight down the second the wand was raised, causing students and teachers to call out in warning, concerned that a fall so far would injure him. His expression did not change; it remained perfectly blank even as he bent his legs and landed smoothly, barely making a sound. He straightened and looked straight at Dumbledore, even as everyone else in the crowd was staring at him with their mouths hanging open, "So why did you want me to come to school today? I was busy."_

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><p>Dumbledore smiled at the newest arrival, though those who knew him longest could tell it was a bit strained, and beckoned him to come closer. The orange haired Slytherin hesitated a moment before walking to stand before the three Headmasters. "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't make it."<p>

Ichigo stared at Dumbledore for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he was being toyed with or not, "What are you talking about Old Man, you're the one who told me to be here today. Do you know how annoying it is to convert a time to fit my time zone? I live in Japan, not England. There's several hours difference. It was especially annoying to get away from my damn father who tried to force me to participate in 'family day,' whatever joke that is. I guess I should thank you, it gave me a great excuse to get out of it, who knows what the Old Goat would have tried to make me do." His expression did not change in the slightest, the only indication of his mood being the slight change of tone in his voice. He completely ignored the fact that practically everyone in the courtyard was currently staring at him.

Dumbledore just smiled at him, blue eyes twinkling in a way that made Ichigo grit his teeth, "Ah yes, of course. Well you are here now so I think we can start don't you think?"

Ichigo scowled at the old wizard, dark brown eyes hard, "What are you talking about? Why do I have to be here? I got permission to study from home yet you call me back to school before a month is up? What is this about?"

Dumbledore chuckled at the angry teen and gestured for everyone to go inside, "You will understand once we get everyone in the Great Hall and get supper started. Now I am curious, what was that spell you were using? Where did you learn it? I am sure we do not teach students how to walk on air."

The teen just snorted and muttered, "I didn't learn it, it's mine of course," as he passed the Headmaster to disappear into the castle.

Dumbledore looked a tad uncomfortable as he watched the bright haired teen dodge students in his hurry to get inside. That boy…..

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><p>As the Hogwarts students and teachers settled at their tables Dumbledore introduced the visiting schools and their Headmasters. The students cheered and whispered to each other about the guests as each school took their turns making their entrance.<p>

Ichigo sat at his usual spot at the very end of the Slytherin table with his back to the wall, hood back up and watching the visitors with wary eyes. He didn't know what this was about, and was pretty sure he didn't like it. He hated not being told things, even more after having to deal with Urahara for a year, and he didn't truly trust Dumbledore yet. The man hadn't done anything to earn his trust, especially after being way too curious about him and hiring a werewolf who had been loose and all too able to harm anyone who got in its way.

He glanced up at the Head Table where the Headmaster of Durmstrang was just sitting down and frowned, his senses were nowhere near as good as they were when he still possessed his shinigami powers, but something wasn't right. The Durmstrang Headmaster, Karkaroff, seemed too dark, much like Snape, but it was Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor according to one of his loud housemates, that really made his skin crawl. The man didn't _feel_ right; something was off about him… He would watch him when he was here, that he was sure.

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><p>He half listened to Dumbledore introduce the Triwizard Tournament and reveal the Goblet of Fire before he finished, making the students all break out into conversations with their neighbors. Ichigo ignored them all, especially the Durmstrang students who were now sitting at his table and his neighbors knew better than to try and talk to him.<p>

The Durmstrang students seemed to notice the students' aversion to Ichigo and snuck looks at him as they participated in their own conversations.

He heard one of the Durmstrang students ask an older Slytherin about Ichigo, which took a few repetitions due to the northerner's heavy accent. When the sixth year finally understood who he was asking about, mainly because of the numerous points in the hooded student's direction, they answered at a low murmur, unaware that Ichigo could easily hear him, "That's Ichigo Kurosaki. He's from Japan. Started last year but was put straight in the third year cause he's older. Apparently he's from a Pureblood family, the Gamps, but his mum's a squib and his dad's a muggle. He was at the top of the class in all of his subjects last term. Got permission to study from home this year, says he wants to skip grades. He's already as old as a seventh year but he started late, still managed to catch up to the third years in one summer. No one knows much about him, he doesn't talk much, doesn't like people either. Got a huge beast of an owl too," as if summoned by the talk about her, Ichigo's huge Fish Owl swooped into the Great Hall, a package in her claws.

The room quieted as the new students and visitors got their first look at the massive bird, even those who had seen it before silenced because it was _that_ striking. Ichigo threw off his hood as he raised his arm, holding the heavy bird easily as he untied the package. It fell to the table top with a loud _thump_, showing how heavy it was, and the bird climbed up her master's arm to settle on his shoulder. Ichigo undid the wrappings on the parcel, revealing a stack of papers, which he promptly began rifling through. Standing, he made his way over to the Head Table and dropped the stack in front of Dumbledore. When the Headmaster only looked up at him confused, he sighed, "My completed work so far. I finished all the assignments for all my fourth year classes. I'm starting on my fifth year work once I get home." With that he pivoted on his heel and stalked out of the Great Hall with long, ground devouring strides, not looking aside once, the doors slamming closed behind him.

The sixth year who had spoken previously turned back to the Durmstrang boy, ignoring the new whispers breaking out, especially Malfoy's angry grumbles, "That was it. No one knows what kind it is, just that it's the largest owl anyone here has. Malfoy's got an Eagle owl but it's still smaller than Kurosaki's bird. Thing looks vicious, it attacked one of the fourth years last year when they were trying to get his attention. Was sitting all calm on his shoulder then lashed out when the girl tried to touch Kurosaki. It stopped once Kurosaki raised a hand, got it trained somehow, dunno how but who knows what he does." He stopped for a moment, turning an irritated look on Malfoy, who was muttering louder about the departed student, "Malfoy doesn't like him, got beaten up last year cause his father put down a hippogriff that hurt him. I wasn't there for the class but apparently Kurosaki flew the more dangerous hippogriff, had less trouble than Potter did. He warned Malfoy about something before the class was over, no one knows what it was since Malfoy won't talk about and no one can get Kurosaki to say anything if he doesn't want to."

Another student sitting next to the sixth year piped in, "Right weird one, Kurosaki. Won't talk to anyone unless 'e has to. Even ignores the professors unless he's asked something directly. Just spends all his time in the library or writin' in those little books o' his. Won't let anyone look at them neither. He'll just shut them until you go away or 'e'll leave. Malfoy mocked him about it, called it a diary, then Kurosaki stood over 'im for a bit, glarin' at him, then just left. Malfoy didn't say it again, he's right scary when he wants t' be. Real good at fightin' too, from how he took down Malfoy and his boys. 'e didn't even get in trouble fer it, just got a warnin' from Dumbledore."

The Durmstrang student who was initially curious exchanged looks with some of his classmates who were sitting nearby. They spoke quietly to each other until Krum withdrew from his bench, leaving a ranting Malfoy behind, and followed him.

Students from the other tables were finishing up and left the Great Hall in groups, some to wander the halls or just to find a nice spot to talk about the guests. Luna left her place at the Ravenclaw table and made her way outside, stopping at one of the entrances to the courtyard and looking around. She stopped as she spotted the large form of Tsuki in the lower branches of the largest trees in the yard, and walked over, peering into the branches for the transfer. "Hello there," she chimed to alert the older boy to her presence.

A dark form shifted in the branches next to where the Fish Owl was perched and dark brown eyes glanced down at her before disappearing once more under the hood, "Hello Luna."

Luna brightened at the deep voice, pleased that the boy remembered her name, as not many seemed to bother, "Hello Ichigo. How are you? And Tsuki?"

More shifting and the rustles of fabric, "Fine, we're both fine. How about you? People being mean to you again? I'll make them stop."

"No no. I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle. A lot of nargles in the castle this year but not too bad. I saw you earlier, you were walking on air. I didn't know there was a spell to do that."

The branches were silent for a moment, before Tsuki burst out of them, heading for somewhere in the distance. Luna watched her go and startled when she turned around only to be faced with Ichigo's chest a few inches away, she hadn't even heard the teen move, much less land from his jump from the tree. "You startled me, I didn't hear you move," she explained when she saw the confusion in his dark eyes.

He nodded once before apologizing, "Sorry, didn't think I was being that quiet. I don't make a lot of noise when I move, forgot that most people don't have as good hearing as I do."

Luna nodded at his explanation before frowning, "You didn't answer my question."

"There was no question. You made a statement," he rumbled back.

She just huffed, "All right, I guess I didn't ask. How did you walk on air? I didn't think there was a spell that made you do that."

A deep chuckle was her only response, "I used a spell. There wasn't a spell to let you do it," he continued seeing her about to ask something else, "Until I made one. I've been coming up with my own spells since about halfway through last term."

She just stared at him while he glanced around them, making sure no one heard him. It would likely cause too much attention if people found out about it, he was pretty sure Luna wouldn't tell anyone. Not that anyone would likely believe her even if she did, since most of the students seemed to think she was crazy. He didn't like the attitude people took with Luna, but knew they'd have to get over it themselves if they wanted to see that she wasn't crazy, just different. If they didn't figure it out themselves, that was their loss.

"How marvelous. I've never tried to come up with my own spells before, I heard only Seventh years have ever been known to do that, and even with them it is very rare." This was why Ichigo liked Luna, she was completely honest and unbiased, she didn't judge and she didn't hold others' accomplishments against them, even if they were better than her. "You must be very talented then. The only spell I could think of is one to chase off all the nargles that like to hide in the girl dorms but I haven't really thought as to how it would work. How do you do it?"

Ichigo leaned back against the tree trunk, chuckling softly at the pure curiosity shimmering in her pale blue eyes, he really preferred Luna's eyes to Dumbledore's, people always said Dumbledore had eyes that glittered but Ichigo thought it was a suspicious look on him, on Luna it looked pure and honest, a lovely combination. "I write down ideas of what I want the spell to do in here," he whipped out one of his many notebooks from one sleeve, "taking notes about what the spell requires and how it would work. Then I practice different movements and incantations until I find something that works. Some spells take longer than others, the more complex the spell, the harder it is to make. Some spells that go together with another spell, like _Lumos _and _Nox_ are easier to do once one side of the spell if done. I have a few spells that come in pairs, one to initiate the change and the other to reverse it. And no, before you ask, I'm not going to show you. A guy's gotta have his secrets right?"

Luna gave him a mock-stern look that lasted barely four seconds before her face broke out into a wide smile, "That's all you are is secrets Ichigo Kurosaki, there's barely anything people actually know about you, not for lack of trying in any case."

Ichigo snorted, "trying my ass, stalking more like. Do you know how annoying it is to have people following you around, spying on you? These damn kids need to respect a person's privacy, seriously. I'm gonna start getting mad if they don't stop."

"We don't need that. You'll get in more trouble if you put any more of your classmates in the infirmary. Though I suppose they aren't your classmates anymore….. what year are you in now Ichigo?"

The taller teen smirked, pleased with himself, "I just finished all the fourth year work and started on the fifth year stuff. It's finally getting interesting, everything else was so boring. Then I'll take my OWLs in the spring and be a sixth year next term."

Luna's blue eyes widened, "truly? I've never heard of anyone skipping grades before, especially so many at once. I am impressed. Don't forget to come visit me even if we are no longer yearmates, I will be lonely without you Ichigo."

Ichigo's dark brown eyes softened, the fierce fire that always seemed to inhabit them dimming, "Of course I will Luna, you're the only one in this crazy bin I can actually tolerate. The rest of them are all nutters."

That made Luna burst out into loud and slightly hysterical laughter, "Oh, the rest are crazy and we are the sane ones? Oh Ichigo I do believe it is the other way around. It is us who are so off our rockers that we must band together to survive the normals!"

Ichigo chuckled back, smiling softly as the girl tried to control her hysterical laughter. He truly did consider Luna his only friend at Hogwarts. She was sweet if a bit strange sometimes and she was curious about him but did not pry. His old friends in Karakura would always harass him for answers, not leaving him alone unless he clammed up or flat out left. Luna was fully aware of how odd Ichigo was but she still accepted him, she didn't care that he was older, or antisocial, or smarter than her, she was just glad for his company and liked him for who he was and not who he used to be.

They bid their farewells and parted ways, Ichigo to head back to the dorms since it was late in Japan and he wasn't going to bother going home so late just to get a few hours of sleep, Dumbledore would likely just call him back soon anyway.

He ignored his housemates' stares as he entered the common room after cornering a second year for the password, heading straight for the bed left purposely empty in the boy's dorms and collapsing down onto it, falling asleep in minutes.

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><p><strong>So what'cha think? Other than short I mean. I know it's short. I don't do massively long chapters, they make my head hurt.<strong>

**I will work on the next chapter now. Reviews and suggestions please!  
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**Ta ta for now!  
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	9. Chapter 9

**New chapter new chapter new chapter! Took me long enough I know. I had most of this chapter written, just needed to get the rest of it out. I've been in a bit of a writing slump unfortunately, took up beta-ing several stories and since none of them seemed likely to be worked on any time soon I decided to come back to this. And I got some of my motivation for this back so good for you all. I know it's a bit shorter than my usual so forgive me for that, I just wanted to end it at a certain point.**

**I don't own HP or Bleach, I don't even own any of the books for pete's sake. Leave me be. And if I owned Bleach Orihime wouldn't be so annoying. Anyway, enjoy your chapter.  
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><p>Ichigo did his best to ignore the endless chatter of practically the whole Great Hall, eventually giving in and using <em>Aufero audio <em>on himself to block out the sounds of children talking incessantly.

He didn't particularly care for the tournament, not seeing the point of it other than possibly killing the contestants. He was of age to enter the contest but he wanted absolutely no part in it, especially all the attention competing would cause; it was too bothersome even if he was interested, which he wasn't.

He finished his breakfast as quickly as possible and headed out to take advantage of his free time since he didn't actually have to attend any classes. Luna had an hour or so free after breakfast and they had made plans to hang out, specifically for her to teach him how to use a broom since he had never formally learned.

He had been a bit put off at the idea of trusting a cleaning tool to fly, much preferring his own created spell since he knew it was trustworthy, but figured he might as well know how to fly in case he needed to.

He had stopped at Quality Quidditch Supplies on his way to Hogwarts and had purchased the newest broom available. It wasn't even on the market; Ichigo had managed to talk the shopkeeper into selling him an experimental broom that was deemed too dangerous to be sold to the public. It had taken too long to persuade the man to sell him the broomstick for Ichigo's taste, mainly because the man kept telling him horror stories of what had happened to those who had tried to test the broom before, the worse being one witch who had actually died from her injuries. The broomstick definitely had a mind of its own, and a nasty one at that, it was rather vicious for a bunch of twigs and had taken to throwing its riders, much like an ill tempered horse.

It was an attempt by the Comet Trading Company to get ahead of the currently most popular broom manufacturer, the Nimbus Racing Broom Company. It supposedly, according to shopkeeper, was faster than the Nimbus 2001 and maybe even the Firebolt, was said to be more maneuverable than both, made to cut through the air with the sleek design, leading to even more speed. But the unusual aggressiveness of the broom was making the company rethink the idea, not wanting to put a design out that would cause harm to customers.

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><p>Ichigo had practically forced the man to sell him the broom, thinking it a waste of such a fine looking device, for a cleaning tool that is. The broom was long, longer than most racing brooms, made for a taller rider, and quite beautiful in Ichigo's opinion. It was of mahogany wood and a rich reddish brown at the riding end, darkening to almost black at the handle, the staining of the wood very interesting on its own, since broomsticks were not often stained to multiple shades of color, deemed too troublesome by the manufacturers. The look of the broom alone was very unique, the tail end of the broom sleek, the branches making up the end unusually long and forming the shape of a paintbrush, the handle end of the broom was the opposite, tapering off to a sharp point like the writing end of a quill. There was little thickening towards the handle or protrusion to aid in grip, making it require someone with good grip and experience in flying.<p>

It was the dark coloring which had first caught Ichigo's attention, his keen eyes fixing on the broom's position in the corner of Quality Quidditch Supplies. When he learned the name of the experimental model, Dark Cleaver, it only secured Ichigo's already curious interest in it. The relation to his Zangetsu too much temptation to ignore: And so he had made the shopkeeper sell the broom to him, assuring that no harm would come to him and promising to come back so the man could see he was alright and the broom didn't kill him.

Ichigo sighed once he saw that he had finished eating while he recollected, cancelled the _Aufero audio _by casting _Recro audio _and left the table to get his broom and clothing more suited to being outdoors.

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><p>He was halted on his way to the door outside by the massive crowd by the Goblet of Fire, completely blocking the hallway. He scowled to himself and began making his way through the crowd, staying clear of the age-line keeping the younger students watching back. He didn't even bother apologizing to those he bumped on his way through, figuring they deserved it for making it impossible to get through without somewhat violent contact. He fixed his fierce glare on those who turned to him with angry faces at being disrupted, making them flinch back and turn away from him.<p>

Once he was finally through the hallway rose a notch in volume, this time because of the infamous Viktor Krum's approach with the rest of the representatives from his school, lead by their Headmaster personally. Ichigo stayed clear of the sports star, leaning up against the hall wall while he waited for Luna to meet him and completely ignoring the fact that Krum and most of the Durmstrang students were looking at him as they passed.

Ichigo kept his eyes on the halls just beyond the crowd he had just muscled his way through, ignoring the gossiping about the popular Durmstrang student entering the tournament until an obnoxiously familiar voice called out to him.

"Think you're so great do you? Why don't you enter the tournament then?"

Malfoy had unfortunately noticed him and clearly couldn't resist baiting the older student, seemingly forgetting the fact that the ginger had handed the blond's ass to him last year. Ichigo turned his attention on the shorter boy, seeing the pale hair of his friend drifting through the crowd who had turned at the prospect of an entertaining verbal battle.

Ichigo let his dark eyes still on the pale boy, making him begin to sweat a bit, confidence starting to wane under the gaze of the taller student. Ichigo allowed a single thin brow to raise, the only show of emotion on his otherwise blank face, "And why would I do that?"

The blond actually flinched at the condescending tone in Ichigo's deep voice, but stammered on, intent on paying him back for humiliating him, "Wh-"

"Why wouldn't I enter? Because I have no desire to deal with all of the trouble being in a menial _contest_ would bring me, it is tedious and I have better things to do with my time. I have no desire to risk my life for fame or money or whatever else being in such a tournament would bring me, nor do I have any need for such things." The condensation in his voice grew thicker as he went on, heaviest as he said 'contest', showing just what he thought of the legendary event.

He leaned back as he watched the blatant shock run its way across Malfoy's face, smirking internally at the boy's reaction. Once the blond's face froze into a look of plain surprise and confusion Ichigo looked away, meeting eyes with Luna, who had just managed to emerge from the crowd, "You ready to go then?"

The watching students turned to see who he was addressing and were a bit surprised to see Luna approaching dressed in her outdoor robes and a broomstick in hand. The girl herself didn't seem to notice the attention focused now on her, offering a bright smile to the older boy, "Yes I am but I still don't see why you want me to give you flying lessons, I'm sure Madame Hooch would be pleased to teach you. I cannot compare to her, she is the flying instructor after all."

Ichigo ignored the attention focused back on him, dozens of eyes searching him for any sign of a broom and not finding any, "I'd rather learn from someone I'm familiar with. I don't want to bother Madame Hooch either; she has enough work teaching the first years, much less me."

"Alright then, shall we get going?"

"Sure," He nodded and reached behind him, pulling his Dark Cleaver out from the shadows and leaning it on his shoulder as he followed the younger girl outside.

* * *

><p>"C'mon Harry let's go!"<p>

"Where are we going?" Harry didn't know why his best friend insisted on dragging him off somewhere when they didn't have any classes scheduled for at least another hour.

"Wherever Krum's going! I saw him head out this way! Along with a whole mess of other people!"

"And where is Krum going?"

"Who cares?! Let's just go!"

Harry sighed, he was getting a bit tired of Ron's strange obsession with the Quidditch player, Harry acknowledged that the older boy was good, but Ron was taking it a little far, but since he was still in a pretty good mood from seeing Fred and George's plan blow up in their faces he let the ginger drag him along.

They ended up at the Quidditch Pitch surprisingly and Harry had to almost smother Ron when he started rambling about seeing the athlete practice. Harry pointed out the Romanian to him several feet away, on the ground with no broom in sight. Ron immediately forgot about being disappointed in not seeing his idol fly and started gushing over finally having the older boy nearby.

Harry just shook his head; he really thought Ron was a nutter sometimes. He turned his attention away from the Romanian and instead to what the boy seemed to be looking at. He was surprised to see the vibrant of Ichigo and the pale haired girl, both with brooms in their hands, though Harry didn't recognize the type of broom Ichigo had. It was built like a racing broom, somewhat, it was much longer than Harry's Firebolt but was sleek looking and looked very well made. It looked almost like a cross between the Nimbus 2001 and a Firebolt, sleek with a paintbrush end like the Nimbus but with the coloring of the Firebolt, if a few shades darker. The handle of the broom was completely new though, tapering off to an almost sharp tip like that of a quill, the entire handle black, as if it was dipped in ink. It was a well crafted broom that was for sure, if it did look a tad sinister.

The girl was up in the air already, perched easily on her standard broom and was yelling down instructions to Ichigo who was standing in position on the ground.

He got his broom into his hand easily enough, even with a flash of irritation in his face, but it wasn't until he mounted the broom that there were problems.

The broom shot off the second Ichigo's legs were around it, zooming into the air at a speed that Harry was almost sure could rival his Firebolt, and immediately started to jerk and spasm around, looking as if it was being manipulated like Harry's had been in the past. Harry looked around to see that no one had their wand out, though there was a fair amount of worried muttering. When Harry turned back to look at the situation the dark broom was upside down, Ichigo still firmly in place amazingly enough. The broom continued on, bucking and spiraling like an irate horse trying to rid itself of a rider but Ichigo stayed put. Once it leveled out for more than a second Ichigo let go of the handle with one hand, causing many to shout out warnings below, and reached back towards the tail end of the broom.

Harry felt his eyes widen when the tall ginger actually _punched_ his broom before turning back to face forwards. The broom gave a strong shudder, the branches rattling together ominously, before they returned to their places and the broom stayed obediently put.

* * *

><p>Ichigo glanced down at his broom, pleased that it was sufficiently broken in, and turned to face Luna. She was staring at him with wide blue eyes, her mouth open in a little 'o' before he cleared his throat for her attention. She gave him a few simple maneuvers and he turned his attention to his Cleaver, wondering how he was supposed to command it. He discovered that the broom was indeed more responsive than others and therefore needed significantly less pressure to direct.<p>

He flew in a few simple maneuvers at first, to get used to the feeling, then upped it a level, doing corkscrews and sharp turns on a dime. He then let go of the broom completely, just to see what it would do, and it continued to obey him, responding to his leg signals instead of his hands. Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at it, then decided to see what he could do, he swung around so he was seated on the broom sideways and let himself overbalance, hooking his legs over the broomstick behind his knees. He let his arms dangle down and glanced at Luna from his upside down position, smirking at her look of shock before he rocked back and forth and regained his seat on the broom.

* * *

><p>Harry had a hard time believing what he was seeing. He was expecting Ichigo to be hesitant about the broom, especially since it had tried to get rid of him. He thought the Slytherin would at least take it easy and not try anything too frightening. He was wrong. The tall ginger student was zipping around the Quidditch Pitch without a care, making incredibly harsh turns and spinning in circles without seeming to get dizzy at all. Then he actually <em>let go<em> of the broom and flipped over so he was dangling upside down holding onto the broom with his legs. Harry wasn't the only one who shouted out a warning when it happened, but the older boy didn't seem to notice, just righting himself with ease and staying still.

Harry was stunned silent as he watched the older student fly around with a dropped jaw, he couldn't believe this was his first time on a broom, but he had said it before so it must be true. He watched quietly as Ichigo flew over to the girl and they spoke for a moment before they shot off towards the castle, Ichigo taking an immediate lead and gaining more by the second.

The crowd started to disperse once they realized the mysterious student was done and Harry dragged Ron with him before Krum noticed the redhead staring at him incessantly.

* * *

><p>"Blimey Harry did you see him! I don't think I've ever seen anybody ride like that their first time! Even you took a bit of practice to do the things he did!"<p>

"Yeah I know. He must have already had an idea of what he needed to do. I still don't know why his broom was acting like it was at first. Weird."

"I know! Maybe his broom was bewitched? But I've never seen a broom like his though, wonder where he got it."

Harry just nodded, he was curious too, especially if it could compete with his Firebolt. "It looked fast, I wonder why we've never seen it before if it was that fast…."

"I dunno, maybe cuz it tried to kill him at first? Wouldn't want to get on a broom that tries to throw you, especially when it's not bewitched."

Harry admitted Ron had a point, but why would someone make a broom that acted that way? Unless it was by accident. "Let's ask Hermione later, she might have some idea. All those hours in the library have got to count for something."

* * *

><p>One thing they didn't factor into their plan was that Hermione only tended to research the things that interested her, which wasn't Quidditch, not at all. She had regardless promised to look into the strange broom and get back to them once she found something out. It wasn't until later during dinner that she approached them, a smaller book than her usual resting open with a ribbon.<p>

"It's called a Dark Cleaver. It's a new model from the Comet Trading Company to try and get back into the top sellers in Quidditch brooms. They decided to scrap the design after the first few brooms were made so there are only a few left available to the public. It's apparently as fast a Firebolt though, which seems like a waste to me." Hermione looked up from her book with a look of half-hearted interest.

"Why would they scrap it if it's so fast? Seems stupid to me," Ron put in and Harry nodded his agreement with him.

Hermione just sighed at her Quidditch-happy friends, "_Because_ all the brooms that have been made have tried to throw off their riders. There have even been some reports of people _dying_ from trying to ride the brooms."

"Bloody hell," Ron didn't look so skeptical now, "no wonder. Wonder why they did it?"

"I'm not sure," not knowing was obviously bothering the smart girl, "it has something to do with the materials used to make them, though I'm not sure what they are, broom making is complicated and needs years of study to perfect it, maybe it was a mistake?"

"Or they were trying something new and it didn't work out?" Harry offered helpfully, figuring it was as good a guess as any, since they couldn't actually ask the original makers of the broom.

Hermione nodded her agreement, "Seems a likely enough reason, of course there is no way of knowing for sure without talking to the broom maker."

"He sure doesn't look very happy for someone whose just rode his first broom."

Ron's observation drew his friends' attention to the owner of the subject of their conversation. The orange haired Slytherin didn't look pleased at all, scowling darkly into his plate as he ate quickly, determinedly not looking at anyone around him.

"He obviously doesn't like the attention. He seems a very private person to me, he doesn't talk much either." Hermione tried to defend, though she was curious about the older boy herself.

"He seemed to get along with that girl earlier," Harry pointed out, "the blond girl. I don't know who she is but she looked younger than us, wonder how she met him?"

"She's a Ravenclaw, she's over there." The boys turned in the direction Hermione was pointing in, seeing the dazed looking blond girl happily serving herself a portion of pudding, seeming perfectly oblivious of her surroundings.

"You'd think a Ravenclaw would know better than to talk to a Slytherin, much less Kurosaki. I don't even think the older Slytherins are friends with him. He's bloody vicious!" Ron snuck another at the teen in mention and choked on the sip of pumpkin juice he had just taken.

The other two turned to see what had caused that reaction and stopped dead to see Ichigo Kurosaki himself staring right at them, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Golden Trio and mysterious Slytherin stared at each other for a moment before Dumbledore stood and dark brown with gold flecks tore away from blue, green, and brown and the Trio found themselves able to breathe again.

"He couldn't have heard us could he?" Ron whispered, still throwing half-frightened looks at the older boy.

"He shouldn't have, it's too loud in here," Hermione reasoned but still snuck looks at the mysterious student.

They finally focused on Dumbledore when he began to make his way towards the Goblet.

* * *

><p><em>Stupid damned kids, can't keep their mouths shut. Why is it that every person in England seems incapable of keeping their mouths shut? Even when their Headmaster is talking. Do they ever shut up? Oh wait, the old man's talking, I should probably be paying attention….. Who am I kidding? This tournament has nothing to do with me, I don't even see why I have to be here in the first place, stupid manipulating old man. I'm getting really sick of old coots ordering me around.<em>

Ichigo pulled his attention away from his muttered thoughts to hear Harry Potter's name be called, followed by deafening silence. _Finally… no wait, what? _Eyebrows furrowing, he watched the boy, suddenly deathly pale, stand from his table and make his way out of the Great Hall. Ichigo got a good look at his eyes when he turned stunned eyes on his friends and knew something was up. Confusion, shock, and a large amount of fear was in Potter's eyes. No joy, no pleasure, not even any recognition, the boy had no idea what was going on. Something wasn't right here, Potter had not put his name in that Goblet, it was impossible, someone else had to have done it, there was no way it could have happened.

And now Potter's screwed. Joy. Well, according to his talkative classmates, this was nothing new, from the stories he had overheard about the past few years, it seemed like Potter had managed to get himself caught up in the middle of all the chaos that happened at Hogwarts. Ichigo wondered why that was for a moment, but figured it was much like himself, he just attracted trouble.

This would not be good. Might be interesting to watch though.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's chapter 9. Sorry it's short. It's all I could make myself write for this chapter. I liked where I ended it.<strong>

**So yeah, now Ichigo knows how to ride a broom, it was just a filler-ish thing I came up with to fill some time and take advantage of Ichigo's being at Hogwarts. Another minor thing next chapter before Ichigo's going to escape back home before he's dragged back to Hogwarts, because he really doesn't need to be at school all the time, especially since he's studying from home. **

**Minor spoiler, he'll be doing much the same next book and that'll be his last year at Hogwarts. I already have an ending planned out, though how I'm going to get to that ending is still beyond me.  
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**So yeah, I updated. Finally I know. Review please. Suggestions are welcomed with both hands.  
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**And here's a glossary of the spells Ichigo has used so far, just in case you were wondering what they were/meant/did.  
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* * *

><p>Spell Glossary<p>

_Eversio_ – "destruction" Disintigrates target, regardless if it is living or not (used in chapter 4 when Ichigo destroys the boggart).

_Suffoco_ – "suffocate" Prevents victim from breathing (used in chapter 5 when Ichigo defeats Lupin in werewolf form).

_Aeris Vestigium_ – "air footsteps" Allows caster to walk on air until spell is cancelled (Used in chapter 7 when Ichigo arrives at Hogwarts).

_Aufero Audio_ - "steal hearing" Makes target deaf (used in chapter 9 by Ichigo on himself).

_Recro Audio_ – "restore hearing" Reverses Aufero Audio (used in chapter 9 by Ichigo on himself).


	10. Chapter 10

**I know I know, it's been forever. First I just couldn't think of what I wanted to put for this chapter, then I couldn't figure out how to organize the chapter, and then I just couldn't make myself write. I'm still in a bit of a slump, my mood isn't the best for writing either but I will attempt to do my best. My problem now is that I keep thinking of what I want to write taking place in the next book, which will be the last in this story, and can't drag my brain back to this book so I can get to book 5.**

**So yeah, I'm having some major writer's block. Had a fair chunk of this chapter done for a few weeks but couldn't finish it no matter how much I wanted to. But I finally finished it.**

**I'll say it again because because keep asking, this is NOT a Ichigo/Luna pairing. This is not romance. This is pure Adventure. Ichigo just likes Luna as a person, she's like Orihime and doesn't have many friends despite her being a good person underneath the weird-ness, which makes Ichigo dislike others for and sympathize with her. Repeat NO ROMANCE. Just very good friends.**

**I own nothing. I wish I did, but I am not that good a writer, nor can I draw all that well. Those honors go to J.K. Rowling and Tite Kubo.**

* * *

><p>"Stupid noisy brats," Ichigo muttered, finally having escaped the Great Hall after practically fighting his way through the masses of students clustered together discussing the new champions of the Triwizard Tournament. The tightly packed groups had prevented him from leaving for a solid half hour after the dinner hour let out, it seemed everyone and their sister had to talk about the night's events <em>right then<em> _and there_ and couldn't be bothered to move out of the way. It was pissing Ichigo off.

_I don't even know what the hell I'm doing here. I'm not a part of the tournament so there's really no need for me to be at school. I could be doing something important and instead I'm forced to listen to children prattling on about how Potter cheated to get into the tournament. They're such idiots, as if Potter looks like he wants any part of this charade. He actually _values_ his life, there's no way he would have entered. Someone did it for him, and somehow got around the wards on the Goblet._

Ichigo was still trying to figure out how that had happened but was coming up short. He didn't even know what kind of wards were on the magical artifact so he was mainly just guessing. Not that it particularly mattered to him, but if he found out how someone got around the wards he might be able to do something similar if he needed to in the future.

Right now though he was going to take advantage of being at school to do some Potions work, he'd much rather do it in a classroom that had wards protecting the room instead of in his bedroom that was completely vulnerable.

He was stalking through the halls, trying to find a suitable room as far from the noise, and therefore pesky students that might spy on him, as possible. He was about to turn a corner when a door appeared out of an empty space of wall, a door that had certainly not been there before. He paused warily and watched a double wooden door with metal fastenings and handles finished forming before taking a cautious step forwards.

He jerked the door open all at once, so that if there was something inside waiting for him he'd have the advantage of surprise. Nothing attacked him so he stepped inside, still keeping in reach of the door just in case. It seemed like his caution was unnecessary however as he took in his surroundings.

It was a Potions lab, neatly lay out and not too cramped, shelves on one wall held different sized cauldrons of several different metals and other Potions tools. Another set of shelves held common ingredients for Potions anyone could brew while there was a dresser that Ichigo assumed also held ingredients. There were a few long tables in the room along with stools, on which were several thick books. A perfect place for what Ichigo had wanted to do, just what he required.

"The Come and Go Room, huh?" Ichigo smirked, pulling a few vials and jars out of his pockets that held specialty ingredients he had brought from home. "Time to get started then."

* * *

><p>Several hours later Ichigo was on his way out, several empty jars and vials filled with unknown liquids in hand and pocket. He was just passing the Great Hall when someone rammed into him from behind, sending him crashing forward towards the stone floor.<p>

His fighting instincts were not dead yet though and he used the momentum of his fall and pushed up off the floor, jumping off his hands to land back on his feet neatly. Unfortunately he had forgotten the vials he had been holding and heard the crashing of glass. He looked at his feet and saw the potion that he had been carrying currently eating into the floor, sending off a nasty smelling green gas.

The students that had been nearby beat a hasty retreat to the next hallway to avoid the smell and Ichigo had just vanished the Potion dissolving the floor when Snape was on him.

"Just _what_ was that? I did not assign any potion that would do that! What was it? And just where did you get it?" Ichigo just stared at him, raising a single thin brow, "Well? Answer me Kurosaki?!"

Ichigo muttered something, half to himself, that Snape couldn't hear, "What was that?"

The tall ginger gave him a bored look, "I said too much kappa scale. It shouldn't have done that. Pretty glad I didn't drink it to test it out now, that wouldn't have been pretty."

The Potions Master was confused, "kappa scale? Why would you use such a thing in a potion? Kappa scales have never been used as ingredients before, where did you acquire it?" He still had no idea what the student had been doing in the first place.

"I caught one; it wasn't really all that hard. Damned thing tried to drown me though so I decided that I might as well kill it for more ingredients, I wasn't gonna let it go after that. Who knows what I could do with a kappa? Not me so I just preserved the different parts in case I wanted to use them later. Do you know what I could make with a kappa? The books were fairly useless other than telling me what it was." Snape was still staring so Ichigo figured he'd elaborate, "I was making a potion, trying to anyway. It's pretty tricky. At least this one didn't blow up, the second time you blow up your room it loses a lot of the humor, plus cleaning it up afterwards is a pain. Pretty sure I got the amount of Kirin hair right this time, that's probably why it didn't blow up."

"Kirin hair?"

"Kirin hair."

"And just what is a kirin?"

"You don't know? A kirin is a chimera beast, looks mostly like a unicorn though, it's called the 'Chinese Unicorn' and is an omen of prosperity. They're peaceful even if they look pretty fierce and will only attack if a sinner is attacking someone pure. They can breathe fire too but they're herbivores. They're also pretty rare, it's sometimes said that they are the pets of the gods but who knows if that's true."

"Why?"

"Because they're hard to find and I thought it would help. They're pretty magical on their own and I can't find any here so I figured I'd get it while I could. Never know when you'll need it."

"Just the hair?"

"Yeah I didn't want to kill if I could avoid it, they're really peaceful creatures and there aren't that many of them. I just knocked it unconscious and took some hair. It was fine afterwards."

"And what are you using the hair for?"

"I thought I told you already, I'm trying to make a potion."

"I've never seen any potions that use kirin hair and kappa scales."

"That's because I'm making it up. It's kind of annoying. I think I'm close too."

"Wait," there's no way he heard that correctly, "you are attempting to create your own potion?"

Ichigo just gave him a _look_.

"With no instruction?"

"Obviously since you would be the one I would ask. I'm doing fine on my own."

Snape's expression shuttered into one of contempt though those looking closely enough could see shock and a slight amazement in his eyes, "I will be the judge of that. Come with me, and bring whatever ingredients you have left with you. I wish to see this potion of yours."

Ichigo just shrugged and followed, this could be interesting.

The students who had vacated the area when the potion had been dropped looked at each other, not sure what to think of what they had just seen. The transfer student was making his own potions, and was using nonstandard potions ingredients, potions that _Snape_ hadn't even heard of.

As Ichigo was entering Snape's office he felt a shiver go down his spine. _I'm not looking forward to my return trip; something tells me it won't be any quieter._

* * *

><p>Ichigo left school afterwards, going back home to work on his schoolwork and fully intending to stay there until the year was up. He was called back before two months were up; it was time for the First Task.<p>

* * *

><p>"You've got to be kidding."<p>

Luna jumped, not knowing that there had been someone behind her and turned to see who had snuck up on her without her noticing. She smiled when she came face to face with Ichigo. "Hello Ichigo, how are you today?" No one had been sitting behind her in the stands a second ago and she was sure she should have been able to hear anyone moving past her, but then again the crowd was rather loud.

He frowned at her though he was glad she wasn't one of the moronic children wearing the 'Potter stinks' badges, _I can think of a few people who might be behind that_, "Pissed, but nice to see you again Luna. How have you been? Anyone bothering you you'd like removed?"

The younger girl blinked at the dark shine in his eyes and instead shook her head, "I'm all right Ichigo, thank you for asking. Though I'm afraid there might be a nargle infestation at Hogwarts, they really are causing some trouble. Messing with people's heads."

"Nargles, right." Ichigo knew Luna wasn't really all there but he didn't hold it against her, she was like Inoue, she just had a very active imagination. "Looks like nargles aren't our only problem, people being stupidly thick is another. I heard the youngest Weasley boy and Potter had a blow out, damned brats in my dorm can't shut up about it, like it has anything to do with them."

"Yes I'm afraid so, those two seem to have quite a few nargles, Malfoy as well."

"Well Malfoy is just a spoiled brat so who cares about him. He'll pull his head out of his ass or he won't, it's up to him. Potter and Weasley are probably just fighting about something stupid, seems like something they'd do."

"Hmm, I am a bit worried though. I'm afraid Harry may be in trouble if he doesn't focus during the Task, I'd hate for him to get killed." Luna wasn't particularly friends with the boy, he didn't even know her, but she still didn't want a student to be harmed.

"He would get killed because he wasn't paying attention." Ichigo scratched his cheek and glanced down at the champions tent, seeing Hermione slipping towards the tent out of the corner of his eye, "Well I guess I'll go set up some assurance that he won't. Be back in a bit."

"Where are-"but he was gone as quietly as he had arrived. She watched him move easily through the crowd and into the champions' tent unnoticed.

* * *

><p>"Well isn't this nice?" Ichigo's low, slightly mocking drawl immediately pulled everyone's attention to him, as they hadn't noticed him enter. He swept over everyone with hooded eyes, evaluating, judging, and deeming them unworthy of his attention.<p>

"What are you doing in here?" Karkaroff demanded, "no one should be able to enter!"

_So hot tempered, he needs to calm down._ "It was stupidly easy. Those guards can't pay attention to everything at once after all, there's no way they could have stopped me anyway, I didn't exactly come through the front door. I'm not stupid."

"Then how-"

"Obviously I came in the side, like Granger here," He jabbed his thumb at the girl without looking, pulling his wand out with the other and pointing it at the nearest Champion, Krum, muttering, "_Duro._"

He repeated the spell on each of the Champions faster than anyone could process and turned on his heel to leave before anyone could 'apprehend' him.

His plan was for naught as a thick hand snapped out and cinched around his upper arm, holding him firm. A slight turn of his head showed him his apprehender, Krum. _Figures. At least he has some instincts to speak of, still took long enough for him to have been killed but not bad for a wizard._

"What did you do?!" _That _certainly wasn't Krum, it was far too shrill. Karkaroff then.

"A favor to a friend of mine."

"What do you mean? Who? What was that spell? Why did you cast in on all of us?" That was Harry, wary enough to have his wand out and arm loose, not that he'd be able to do anything if Ichigo really tried but at least he had guts.

"Luna. She expressed concern over your well being Potter. And since I decided I'd rather not see a kid die today I thought I'd do something about it." His voice was perfectly level, as if talking about someone dying was no big deal. He looked down at Krum's hold on his arm as if deciding whether to leave it be or do something about it.

"And what exactly did you do Mr. Kurosaki? I'm sure we all would feel at ease if we knew what you cast." That was Dumbledore, speaking for everyone, nothing new. Not that he was wrong, but he did tend to simplify things.

"I cast _Duro_, a spell that strengthens the target's skin, makes it harder to damage so you won't get as injured as badly than if I hadn't cast the spell. It'll make them harder to kill since it hardens the skin somewhat, thought you'd appreciate it."

"I would ask that you refrain from casting spells on people without their permission in the future Mr. Kurosaki."

"Even if it's for their own good? Geez, tough crowd. Ungrateful much?" He scowled down at Krum's persistent grip on his arm and then up at the student himself, "You can let go now."

He stilled for the split second Krum turned away, looking to Karkaroff for approval, and then blurred into motion. He jerked his arm out of Krum's strong grip hard enough to set the heavier boy staggering, and twisted his body so he was out of reach and facing the occupants of the room. "Keep your hands to yourself next time," he growled at the other boy and glared at the room as a whole, "You can keep your thanks when my spell saves your sorry lives, I don't even know why I bothered. Have a nice life, for however longer it lasts."

He swept out of the tent with one last chilling glare, stalking out of sights and hearing in seconds, leaving those in the room to themselves.

Hermione rushed over to Harry, "Do you feel any different?" she was concerned the spell had done something other than what Ichigo had said it would, he could have been lying, she didn't know him enough to know if he lied.

Harry shook his head, poking himself in the arm with a bit of pressure, "I feel fine, I feel like my skin's a bit thicker, it doesn't give as much, but other than that I'm the same. It really doesn't seem like anything else has happened other than what Ichigo said would."

"Dumbledore who is that boy?! And what do you plan on doing about that spell he cast on the champions?!"

Karkaroff was close to spitting with fury, whether it was from the use of an unfamiliar spell or the transfer himself was unclear. Madame Maxine looked to be in a similar state, though she seemed more confused about the transfer and uncertain about what to do about the sudden situation.

Dumbledore did his best to reassure them, though he was a bit uncertain himself, "Not to worry, Mr. Kurosaki has shown to be a brilliant young man and the few of his personal spells that I have witnessed have been mostly nondangerous."

"_Mostly_?!"

The eldest Headmaster looked around the tent, glancing at the few people who had burst out at the same time, "yes, during his third year he destroyed a boggart with an original spell but it had a different incantation, I'm sure the one he used is harmless. It seemed like it is even a spell for helping people from what Mr. Kurosaki said about not wanting to see anyone severely harmed."

"He _destroyed_ a boggart?! In 'is third year? 'ow is that possible?"

Madame Maxine looked very concerned now, glancing at Fleur in worry.

"Well to be honest he probably should have been in at least fourth year, he was placed in third year classes to try and not overwhelm him. I see that was a mistake now, especially since he seems intent on graduating next year after studying over summer and during the school year." Dumbledore was still a bit skeptical about the strange transfer's plans but he would give him the benefit of a doubt, he'd already surprised him a number of times, what was a few more? "So yes, as I said, I do believe that the spell Mr. Kurosaki used will do precisely what he said it would. I am sure it will help the champions to lessen injuries, now I do think we are out of time, we may discuss this later after the Task."

The others turned to where Dumbledore was looking, seeing Mr. Bagman approaching them. They muttered to themselves, fully intending on confronting Dumbledore and the transfer after the Task, there wasn't anything they could do now.

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><p><strong>And it's done! This'll get you all off my back for a bit yeah? Hope so. I'm sort of thinking of ideas for the next task, Ichigo will be far more passive to the rest of the events in the Tournament, he really doesn't have any interest in them. All I have planned for next chapter is the aftermath of the First Task, which includes all the champions managing to escape with their skins attacked somewhat thanks to Ichigo, and Ball prep. Ichigo's gonna put his learning curve skills to use there, and then a bit with him and Luna at the ball itself, looking very nice in their respective outfits. And that's about it really... Like I said I'm gonna kind of gloss over the rest of this year, unless there is something specific you'd like to see happen? I'll take suggestions into consideration, especially if they motivate me into writing faster and therefore updating sooner.<br>**

**So yeah, feedback. Love it. Gimme. Suggestions and specific comments especially appreciated so I know what you all like and what you want to see more of. I'm just really looking forward to getting to Order of the Phoenix, there's gonna be more Ichigo fighting and being a badass in general in that one, and pissing off Umbridge when she can't punish him. That'll be great. Can't wait. Hope you all are too.**

**Review! Please! I like them!**

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><p><span>Terms:<span>

Kirin: a mythical chimera creature in Chinese lore said to look like a large horse/goat with cloven hooves, a heavy mane of hair, horns, and a scaled body. Also known as a Qilin or the Chinese Unicorn. They are a good omen said to bring serenity or prosperity and has been shown with fire over its body. It only harms the wicked, able to walk over grass and not crush the blades as well as walk on water. It takes great care not to harm any living thing though can be fearsome when a pure person is threatened by a sinner, spouting flames and other fearsome powers. It only appears in areas ruled by a wise and benevolent leader and some legends say it is a sacred pet or familiar of the gods. (this is my view on them, with some imput from other sources, the appearance of Kirins varies a rather large amount).

Kappa: a Japanese water demon that lives in rivers and ponds and lures people and animals into the water to drown them. They are also known to be tricksters that can be harmless or very dangerous. They are humanoid in appearance around the size of a child with scaly reptilian skin, a beak for a mouth, and webbed hands.(again more my view than the exact one, since it's all folklore anyway, there's no consistent description)

_Duro_: "to harden/last/endure" strengthens skin, more resistant to injure. Like an arrancar's hierro.


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm back! Yes yes I know I know, it's been far too long since I last updated this story. I am fully aware of the fact and I'm sorry about it. My only excuse is I really just didn't feel like writing. I'm hoping I got through some of the writer's block and I'll be able to update this and Captains Turned Wizards soon but I really don't know. **

**It also doesn't help that I've got another idea for a Bleach/HP fic racing around in my head that I really want to roll out but I told myself it would have to wait until I finished Captains. I'm also concerned because it has some plot similarities to another story someone else wrote but also many differences so I'm unsure if I can write it and not be accused of stealing ideas.**

**I am done with school so it's not like I don't have any free time, I have loads, I just can't seem to get in the mood for writing or if I am in the mood, I have no ideas. But I'll do my best.**

**Anyway, it's a rather short chapter unfortunately, about half of this was written weeks ago but I couldn't manage to finish it. I ended it short because I liked the place I was at and would have smashed my head into the desk if I had to try and lengthen it.**

**I own nothing except my unreliable but sometimes helpful, full of insane things mind. Hope you like.**

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><p>Ichigo growled to himself as he climbed the unnecessarily large number of stairs up to the Headmaster's office. He was definitely not in a good mood after having to sit through the First Task and the rather pathetic excuse for fighting the four 'Champions' had done. Ichigo could have done the task in half the time the quickest one of them had took, and could have gotten out mostly unscathed even without using <em>Duro<em>.

The Task had only served to prove him right about the combat abilities of the magic users, which was to say, none at all. He knew they would argue of course, that they learned from their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes how to fight 'properly' as wizards and witches. Ichigo could do better without even using magic than they could. His speed alone would be enough to dodge the dragon and get to the egg in record time. And he could be even faster with magic.

_I don't get why none of them thought to just _Accio_ the egg to them. Potter used it to get his broom when it wasn't even close by, how much harder would it be to say "Accio golden egg?" Seriously, these wizards are a joke._

Ichigo wasn't looking forward to having to deal with the Champions and the three Heads of schools in a bit, because surely that was why he had been summoned. Not that he had a choice in the matter. He didn't want to deal with the accusations and suspicion that he was about to face, because of course the stupid prejudiced Europeans couldn't just accept something at face value. Not that Ichigo wholly blamed them, since it was a bit suspicious, but they could clearly see that his spell truly didn't do any more than protect the target, they should be thanking him. Oh well, he'll make them see, or at least leave him alone about it.

He cringed slightly at the creak the door made as he opened it, walking into the room to everyone's eyes on him. _Let's just get this over with._ He took a slight breath in and resigned himself to his fate, "You wanted to see me Headmaster?"

The old man smiled at him, eyes at full twinkle, much to Ichigo's irritation, "Yes my boy," the name made Ichigo grit his teeth and forcefully restrain himself from glaring at the man, "I'm afraid our guests are somewhat worried about your use of an unknown spell. If you could just reassure them and perhaps explain what it does so there are no concerns it'd be appreciated."

_As if any of you'd let me leave the room without explaining, Karkaroff alone is so focused on his Champion he'd probably hunt me down until I told him. Guess they do have reason to be concerned since I am still mostly an unknown; at least these wizards aren't _complete_ idiots._

"I told you already, I cast a spell called _Duro_, all it does is strengthen the target's skin by making it somewhat thicker and tougher, its only purpose is to lessen injury, that's all." He glanced around at each Champion, quickly assessing their physical state, "Which I would think you'd be thanking me for, if I hadn't have used it the injuries they did get could have been much worse. They would have been twice as bad at the very least; it might just have kept them from being much more seriously injured, to the point of not being able to continue the tournament even with medical attention. So I think I deserve some thanks, and a little less suspicion would be nice, not like I wanted anything to do with this joke of a competition in the first place." He grumbled the last bit, the only ones able to hear what he said being Dumbledore and Harry, who were standing nearest.

The Headmasters exchanged looks while the champions came to their own conclusions. Finally Dumbledore nodded and turned back to Ichigo, giving him a friendly look that the teen did not return, "I dare say we do, thank you for your assistance in protecting our champions when you did not necessarily have to provide aid."

Ichigo nodded absently and scanned the expressions of the people in the room once more, "No problem. Is that all then? Because I was in the middle of an assignment when I had to come for the Task and I'd like to get back to it."

Dumbledore looked a bit troubled by his apathy towards them but nodded, "yes that is all. How long do you plan on staying in the dorms?"

"I was planning on leaving after talking to Luna. I want to focus on my studies so I don't want to be here more than necessary." Ichigo was firm on catching up to the seventh years since he was already going to be older than his classmates when he did graduate, he could handle the workload no problem.

"I would like you to spend the week before end of this term at the castle if possible, there will be some additional lessons that you will need to attend I'm afraid, and I would like to attend the final two Tasks."

Gold-flecked brown eyes stared into sparkling blue for several long seconds, weighing, measuring, and finally giving in, "Fine, but I still don't have to like it. I'll be back on the 21st, see you then." And with that he whipped around and strode out of the office, his robes flaring in an effect eerily reminiscent of Snape while somehow seeming more violent.

Dumbledore turned to look at the others in his office and regarded them quietly, "Was that sufficient? I do not believe Mr. Kurosaki means any harm; he is a good student, just very focused on his goals. He will not be present very often during the year in any case as he is very serious about his studies."

The other Headmasters nodded and left, their champions in tow and Harry followed Cedric out after one last look at Dumbledore's contemplative expression, his own mind whirling.

Arriving in the Griffindor Common Room to excited yells and cheers effectively distracted him for a number of hours until bed. In fact he completely forgot about the ginger transfer for the weeks leading up till end of term, focused on classes and homework as well as the upcoming next Task that he still had no clue about.

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><p>Harry found it very easy to forget about the tall student when said student was not actually present and he did not remember that the student would be back until McGonagall was announcing the date and instructions of the Yule Ball, specifically the fact that it was to take place before the end of term and would require dance lessons for those attending. <em>Didn't Dumbledore say Ichigo had to come back for lessons? Was he talking about dance lessons? Does he even know that Ichigo wants to attend? <em>

He brought it up with Hermione and Ron (who he had thankfully made up with after the Task) the Monday before the Ball. Ron and Harry were trying to avoid thinking about asking out dates while Hermione just flat out ignored their frustrated mutterings, Harry only brought it up to try and distract himself from the inevitable embarrassing event that was asking a girl to a dance.

Hermione seemed interested, "So he's coming back this week? I wonder if anyone told him about the Ball before hand."

"I sure wouldn' want to be the one to tell 'im he came all the way just for a dance," was Ron's muttered input, he was still a bit put out after his spectacular failure of asking Fleur to the dance.

Harry thought Ron had a valid point, he certainly wouldn't want to be made to go cross country just to find out it was for a dance that he had to take lessons to attend.

The trio were on their way out of the Great Hall when an approaching blaze of orange distracted them into stillness, Ichigo Kurosaki was back.

They watched as the tall boy paused as he was approached by a younger girl with wavy platinum blond hair, Harry thought he recognized her from somewhere.

"That's the girl who was giving him broom lessons!" Ron exclaimed somewhat quietly and then Harry remembered, he also thought that maybe Ginny had mentioned something about her, Lu- something, Lucy maybe? Anyway at the moment Ginny was nowhere to be seen as the Lucy girl talked to Ichigo, gesturing vaguely to the Great Hall and making the boy scowl fearsomely.

It wasn't until they moved a bit closer that they could hear what they were discussing:

"What the hell do you mean I have to attend some Ball? Why do I have to do that? I didn't come halfway around the world to go to some stupid dance."

The older boy seemed close to actually growling, his voice tense with irritation and making those nearby cringe cautiously but Lucy didn't even flinch.

"I think it's required. Those attending the Ball need to attend lessons in dance and invite a date. Those under third year can't go unless an older student asks them to go but everyone going needs a date." She didn't hesitate to explain the situation that made a fair number of the male student body nervous; she even did so with a dazed blank look on her face.

Ichigo actually snorted derisively, a wholly unimpressed look on his face, "as if asking someone is going to make me nervous. You're over third year aren't you Luna? Got a date yet? If not want to go with me?"

The girl, Luna according to Ichigo, looked even more dazed than usual at the abrupt proposal, blinking several times to process what he had said. She wasn't the only one flabberghasted at the completely out of the blue question, none of the students nearby could even imagine being able to ask someone out so confidently, even uncaringly, as he had.

Luna's lips spread into a small smile at the older boy who was looking down at her with an aloof expression, "No I don't have a date yet, I think it would be nice to attend with a friend."

Ichigo smirked at her, "great, we can meet later to discuss dress colors and maybe practice some. Do your best in dance lessons; don't let me surpass you when you've gotten a head start on me, though I doubt you'd be able to beat me."

She smirked so slightly up at her date, a teasing tone entering her voice, "I don't think you will be able to catch up, it has been nearly a week since the announcement after all."

"We'll have to see now won't we? I'll catch you later Luna, if you can't find me just send Tsuki with a message, she'll find me." With a whirl of black robes the tall student was gone, merging into the crowds easily despite his attention grabbing hair and height.

"Well he sure isn't shy, he didn't hesitate at all!" Hermione seemed impressed at the ease with which the older student asked Luna out while Ron and Harry were still trying to get over how uncaring and unabashed he had been and wondering if they could manage it. Not likely. They'd just have to figure something out on their own.

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><p>They didn't see the tall transfer student until later that day during the first dance lesson for the Gryffindors, being held in one of the smaller halls.<p>

Harry was laughing as quietly as possible with the boys around him at the almost panicked look on Ron's face as the latter was called to demonstrate the dance with Professor McGonagall. Clearly he wasn't being quiet enough because his friend kept shooting him glares, a peek at the other side of the room proved that Hermione was enjoying Ron's discomfort just as much as he was, if not more. She was clearly still upset with him for assuming she didn't have a date to the Ball until the last minute.

He was trying to smother his laughter as Ron beat a hasty retreat once being released by McGonagall when the loud snickering of an unfamiliar deep voice caught his attention. Clearly the sound was loud enough for the rest of the room to hear and the students glanced around trying to find the source. The laughter was just dying down when Harry locked on to the unknown amused person, it was Ichigo Kurosaki.

He stood leaning half against the closed doors to the hall, snickering into his robes not at all discretely, his shoulders shaking in mirth. He kept laughing to himself, not noticing or ignoring how everyone in the room was whispering with their neighbors about his sudden presence. Even though he had already been a student for over a year there were a large number of people who hadn't seen him close up, since he kept to himself and rarely associated with anyone, even those of his own House. For the Gryffindors in the hall he was a pretty rare sight, since those not in his year had almost never seen him from a closer distance than across the Great Hall at meals.

"Is there something you find amusing Mr. Kurosaki?" McGonagall's dry voice broke up the chatter and brought an end to Ichigo's private laughter.

Ichigo shook his head with one last chuckle, looking at McGonagall with an expression of dry humor on his face, "Just how uncomfortable Weasley looked during the demonstration, you'd think he's never had contact with a woman before."

Harry glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye and saw his ears go red in embarrassment but kept silent, gaze trained on the foreign student.

McGonagall seemed a tad confused at his statement, "well I would think most students are not well accustomed to those of the opposite gender, is that not the case with you?"

Ichigo snorted at that, "Hardly, I've got twin younger sisters and my best friend is a girl. Also I used to know two women who liked to mess with me by smothering me in their chests. I'm not exactly body shy."

McGonagall just blinked, trying to digest what he'd just said, as was the rest of the room. Who in the world does he know? Why would they act like that? And why doesn't it bother him?

"Well then, I suppose I can see why you are not embarrassed. Why are you here though? I am certain lessons for the Slytherins is being held in another hall of the castle, are you lost?"

"Nah, just didn't feel like dancing with those pricks, damned Purebloods look down on anyone who wasn't taught dance because they grew up with it. So I figured I'd take lessons with one of the other Houses, unless that's a problem?"

"Not at all, so you have no prior knowledge of dance?"

"Not much use for it in Japan, and the dances where I live are different. I'm told I learn very fast though so I'll be done after today."

"Today? That is a bit too quick don't you think?" There was no way he could learn the dance perfectly in only one afternoon, even if he was a fast learner.

Ichigo just rose a thin eyebrow and stepped further into the room, approaching McGonagall, "yeah? Well let's just find out then, shall we?"

McGonagall started the music again and instructed him where to place his hands and what steps to take. Ichigo took her hand and placed his other at her waist with no hesitation or discomfort of any kind, waited for the right beat, and swept the teacher into the dance.

McGonagall was stunned at how well he danced for a beginner, maybe he wasn't one..? But no, he made beginner mistakes, even if his movement and balance were even better than hers, he really was a quick learner.

They danced for nearly an hour, McGonagall making slight corrections whenever Ichigo made a mistake, but mostly serving as an example of a properly executed dance. Ichigo only needed minimal instruction before he picked up the proper form and movement almost as if it was natural for him, and within the hour of his arrival, he was done. The room watched as a whole as the tall foreigner sauntered out of the room without a backwards glance. He really was impressive.

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><p><strong>So there you have it, chapter 11. This is going to be my longest fic yet I think. I'm alright with it but I do get stumped rather frequently. I'll try not to succumb to the evil writer's block but it happens.<br>**

**Hope you liked it and leave reviews saying what you liked or what you'd like to see in the story in the future. Just so you all know, I have no plans for any of the Bleach characters not already used to be in the story as anything other than simply being mentioned in passing. This really is more on the Harry Potter side of the crossover, save for Ichigo's presence in the school. Sorry if you don't like it, but that's what I've decided for now. Remember Ichigo doesn't have his powers in the story.**

**I'm kind of temped to write out that other Bleach/HP story just so it stops taking up my head space, but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested. How bout I give you all a little rundown of the story and you tell me if you'd read it or if you have any suggestions. It would be a story where Ichigo is a wizard, the only ones who know are his family and Snape. Ichigo attended teh Japanese magic school and met Snape there while Snape was doing some extra studies, Snape took Ichigo on as a private student while he was in Japan and afterwards kept in contact with letters. So the story would open during Order of the Phoenix where either Harry first arrives at the Order or after he gets back from the trial, only to see Snape, who is talking to Dumbledore about a foreign exchange student, when Ichigo arrives. And the story goes from there. I know another author just started a story like this and there was another a year or so ago that hasn't updated in a while but honestly they aren't the best written and are lacking several key details. Several differnt things about mine will be it occurs when Ichigo is 18, has his Shinigami powers under control, and it has several mentions of Yokai and the non-shinigami spirits of Japan.  
><strong>

**So let me know what you think about it and the chapter. Next chapter will be the Ball so look forward to it! Also, I can't find any pictures of Luna's Yule dress or if she even went, so dress ideas? Colors that would look good on her and Ichigo please! Kay I'm done now. Until later everyone!**


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